Unstitchers
by KnutCANDY
Summary: -"Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten" Do you know how to kill a Beldam? We do. Note: Some scenes may frighten young children. Others may scar them for life. CxW
1. Friedrich Nietzsche

**UNSTITCHERS  
**

__ we will be here when you fall __

**Chapter One**_** - **__A letter is an unannounced visit, the postman the agent of rude surprises._

_~Friedrich Nietzsche_

It was sunny when Coraline woke up. So naturally, by the time she'd donned her hideous grey uniform, skipped down the stairs and sung "FEED ME!" at the top of her lungs to her sighing mother, the air outside was pulsing with thunder and rain.

"Today is going to be hideous." her mother moaned as she lifted a couple of eggs onto a plate for Coraline. Coraline was about to say something about how she liked thunderstorms, but was interrupted when her father walked in.  
"FEED M-" he mumbled his thanks through the piece of toast that had been shoved into his mouth. "Hey, kiddo." he added to Coraline, ruffling his daughter's blue hair.  
"Dad~" she protested, "I just _fixed_ that."

"Why, is there some boy at school you're trying to impress?"  
"_Dad!" _

"Coraline," began Mom with an mysterious smile, "I hope you wear your raincoat today. Because if you catch a cold, I'll probably have to ban you from going to Chicago."  
"What?" Coraline's head jerked up. "_Chicago?_" she looked at her dad. "Am I missing something here?" He smiled at her.  
"All this time you were telling us how much you hated maths." he chuckled.  
"This came in the mail for you today." Mom said, holding an envelope out to her. She took it and examined it. It had a generic looking school crest on it. "You, my Coraline Jones, have been invited to represent your school in a national maths competition in Chicago." her mother smiled proudly at her from across the table.  
"Huh?"

"We're so proud of you, kiddo." her Dad said, standing and heading in the direction of the study.

"But I'm terrible at maths..." Coraline murmured to herself, looking at the envelope.

Mom glanced at the clock and gasped. "Quick!" she cried, "If you don't get out the door soon you're going to miss your bus!" Coraline slipped the letter into her bag which she swung over her shoulder. At the door her mother shoved her raincoat, hat and gloves into her hands before kissing her quickly on the cheek.  
"Bye Mom." she said, pulling on the coat.  
"Go on, scram." was the affectionate reply. "Your ride's here."

The door shut behind Coraline as she pulled on her gloves. She turned around to confront a grotesque creature with a skull helmet and a hunchback. He lifted his visor.

"You're wearing your raincoat today." he remarked with his customary head-tilt.  
"It's raining, genius." she pushed past him, making her way down the front steps.  
"Well, I guess. It's just I haven't seen you wear it since... well, a long time." In the two years since Coraline had moved here Wybie hadn't changed that much, except for maybe that his voice had broken and he'd grown an inch or two.

While in the month or so following the incident with the door, they'd been thick as thieves- exploring and adventuring together nearly everyday- since school had begun they'd grown apart. Though they shared almost all of their classes, Wybie was in what you might call a 'nerdy' circle of friends, compared to Coraline's more 'cool' crowd. As a result of this, the only time they really spent together now was the journey to and from school.

"So, um, you want a ride to the bus or not? Only it's pretty muddy..." Wybie followed Coraline down the path, wheeling his bike beside him.  
"You're not afraid of a little mud are you, Wybourne_?" _she teased him._  
"_No. But you know how Mrs. Ross is about it..." he said, getting onto his bike with a shrug.  
"Point." she sighed. She stopped walking and got on behind him, standing on the two footholds attached to the back wheel. She wound her arms around his neck.

"All set?" he asked over his shoulder, and she mumbled an "Uhuh" as he got the engine started.

Though she'd never admit it to anyone, Coraline loved riding on the bike with Wybie. It was the wind in her hair; the complete lack of suspension making every bump in the road a jump. Once they'd got to the bus-stop he made a big deal of locking the bike up with some contraption that looked like he'd built it himself. Which he probably had.

"You act as if someone would _want_ to steal it." she said, smirking.  
"Ha, ha." he replied sarcastically, straightening up again. Well at least, as straight as he ever was. The rickety old bus pulled in and they climbed aboard.

"Hey Coraline, over here!" called a girl from the back of the bus, waving.  
"Abbey!" she sang and skipped over to sit by her red-headed friend. Wybie stood alone for a moment looking a little lost and disappointed, before sliding in beside someone else, a withdrawn boy with long, blonde hair.  
"Hey, Lester." his greeting was drowned out by a clap of thunder. He sat back and sighed, giving up and looking out the window. _Today is going to be horrible..._

Cat sat at the bus stop watching the bus pull away. Wybie smiled. But then when he blinked, the bus stop was empty. He sat back again in his seat, wondering if he hadn't just imagined it.

xXx

Coraline always sat next to Wybie in maths. He was much better at it than her, and didn't mind it when she copied his answers. However today, first up was English so they sat on opposite sides of the room, according to the customs of elementary school hierarchies.

Coraline stared out of the window with Abbey chattering happily into her ear, not seeming to notice or care whether Coraline was listening or not. At one point she glanced across the room. Wybie was making what looked like a biplane out of paper, sticky tape and a broken pencil. He looked up and smiled when he caught her eye. She smiled back. He bent over it, appearing to be writing on it, then threw it in her direction. It sailed across the room, landing neatly in her lap. "_awesome banana slug weather" _it read.

"That kid is so weird." Abbey remarked, after reading the note over Coraline's shoulder. Coraline jumped.  
"_Abbey!"_ she protested, laughing. "don't read other people's notes!"  
"But what if it had been a confession of _love_?" her friend replied, smirking. "I might have to intervene-"  
"It still wouldn't be your business." Coraline sniffed.  
"But he's such a _loser, _Coraline!" Abbey moaned just as the teacher entered the room, which prevented Coraline from replying. They turned to face the front.

"Alright lets open up our Macbeth books to scene one, shall we?" began the teacher Mrs. Ross, who was all spectacles and bug-eyes, as she slammed the door behind her dramatically. "I'm gonna be wanting a two hundred word discussion on the line "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" by the end of the week." there was a collective groan from the class as everyone opened up their books. Coraline started when an envelope fell out of hers.

"What's that?" Abbey whispered curiously.  
"Oh … an invitation to a... maths competition..."  
"But you suck at maths..." said Abbey bluntly, looking confused.

"I know..." the envelope opened easily, already having been opened once. She pulled out the letter and skimmed through it. It was pretty much what she was expecting; a nice, straight-forward, very official invitation. Which just confused her more. "this is so weird..."  
"Hey, look at this!" Abbey had the envelope. Coraline watched her tip something out of it, onto her palm.

A plain black button.

Coraline screamed. All heads turned her way, eyes wide in shock and curiosity.  
"Coraline?" Abbey asked, voice shaking as Coraline burst into tears, scrambling to her feet and stumbling out the door, knocking her chair over in the process. The classroom erupted into whispers.  
"Abbey!" Mrs. Ross barked, "what the hell happened?"

"Uh, ma'am?" came a voice from the other side or the room. All eyes landed on Wybie and the room fell silent. He gave a weak grin. "Coraline's used to have this...uh... kind of anxiety disorder...phobia...thing...um... She was getting better but-"  
"Wybie you can take Coraline to the sick bay." interrupted Mrs. Ross, rolling her eyes. "Make sure she's okay. The rest of you stop gawking and get to work." Wybie nodded and after righting her chair (whilst imperceptibly pocketing the envelope and letter he'd seen her reading a moment before), he slipped out of the room.

xXx

"Jonesy?" Coraline was sitting on one of the sick-bay beds trying to stop crying when she heard the whisper from the door.  
"W-what d'you w-want W-Wybie?" she asked, wiping her cheeks and glaring at him.  
"Teacher sent me. Are you okay?" he asked, slipping inside and sitting next to her on the bed.

"D-do I l-_look_ okay?"  
"No need to get angry."  
"I'm n-not angry-"  
"You always get angry when you're upset. I'm starting to think it's your way of coping with-"  
"_Wybourne!" _she threwa pillow at him, which he only just ducked.

_"_Okay... sorry... geez..." there was an awkward silence in which Wybie attempted to pat her comfortingly on the shoulder. Having failed to do so, he sat back, hands folded in his lap. "so... what happened exactly?"  
"There was a b-b-button in the s-stupid envelope." she said, wiping her nose with her sleeve.  
"A _button_?" he repeated, eyes widening in horror. "but- _why_?"

"I d-don't _know!" _she hit him with another pillow. "Because the Beldam is h-holding maths competitions in Chicago now!"

"Wait... maths competitions?" he looked down at the letter, reading it through properly now. He frowned. "You got invited to a _maths_ competition?"  
"Yeah. So?" she frowned. His incredulous tone had made her defensive.  
"You're not even good at maths." he said, looking mildly hurt. "Why would they invite _you_?"  
"What?"  
"It's just... I've been dux in maths since year sev-"  
"Wybie," Coraline growled, rolling her eyes. "Don't you think that's the least of our problems right now?"  
"Right... sorry. And there was a _button_ in the envelope?" he looked at the envelope again.

"...Oh man." he ripped the envelop open.  
"What?"  
"There's writing here. On the inside."  
Coraline's face paled. "What? What does it say?" she shuffled closer to him, so she could read it over his shoulder. He took a deep breath and read it aloud. _"_Dear Coraline Jones_,"_

_Dear Coraline Jones. _

_we Apologise For any inconvienience that this letter may have caused you. The enclosed button was only included to get your attention and we Apologise again if it has caused you any distresse. we are contacting you because we have learned of your relitively recent Triumph over the Beldam of one Pink Palace Apartments and admire your courage and intuision. Before we explain how we know all this, however, you will probably want to know who we are._

_"_You think?" Coraline remarked weakly. Wybie had frozen and was frowning, reading ahead. "Wybie?"  
He jumped. "Sorry."

w_e are an orginisation of young people like yourself who have all had similar experiences with a Beldam of our own. the difference between us is only that our Orginisation also knows how to Permanently banish a Beldam. (Basically, Kill it.) We exist to save other children by Killing Beldams wherever they infest. We have heard of your own success from our cat, and have come to beleive that you are exactly the kind of resourcefull person that we need in our team. If you are interested in joining us please come to the Maths Competition whose invitation is also enclosed.  
We sincerely hope you accept our invitation, and hope you have a nice day._

_The Unstitchers. _

There was a long pause in which they stared at each other.

"Well?"  
"Well what?"  
"What do you think?" Coraline murmured.  
"I don't know Jonesy..." Wybie said uncertainly, "it's all pretty dodgy... whoever it is can't even spell..."  
"Should I go, though?"  
"I dunno. You're the 'resourcefull' one. You tell me."  
"Wybie~" she moaned.  
"You want my honest opinion?" he asked, standing up and turning to her. "Throw it away and forget all about it. Ask yourself Jonesey; do you _really_ wanna get caught up in this stuff again? I definitely don't." It didn't seem his words were having the desired effect however, because she was staring at the letter in her hand, biting her lip in thought. "Jonesy are you even listening to me? You can't be seriously thinking about this!"  
"It just all fits in so well... Think about it Wybie; she _can't_ be the only Beldam there is, it wouldn't make sense!"  
"Has it occurred to you that _she_ might be the one behind this whole thing! That it's all a _trap!_" he cried, gesturing wildly with his arms. She rolled her eyes.  
"Don't be stupid, Wybie, there's no way she could have done this." she held the envelope in front of his face. "Its from an address in _Chicago, _and besides, she's locked up..." she looked down, frowning. "but she's not dead..."  
"Jonesy..." Wybie warned, holding up one skeletal finger. Coraline batted it away.

"You don't have to sleep in the same _house_ as her Wybie!" she snapped. "You're not the one who sometimes still hears her _banging_ against the door at night! You're not the one who had nightmares for a _whole_ _year! _If there is _any_ chance I can take to make her go away for good, then I'm gonna take it, okay!"  
"_But you can't even do maths!" _He exploded. She fell silent. He regretted his words almost immediately. "Jonsey... sorry... I didn't mean-" she cut him off by grabbing his hands, looking him hard in the eye. There was a gleam in her eye that slightly unsettled him.  
"_You _can do maths." she declared firmly.  
"...huh?" his expression was mildly fearful.  
She was pacing around the sickbay now, mind evidently ticking over some sort of plan. "uh... Coraline?"  
"It's perfect. We'll have a chance to poke around and find out what's going on..." she was mumbling to herself excitedly.  
"Cora-"  
"Wybie." she had him by the shoulders now, nose only a foot or so from her own.  
"Y-yes?"

"Tell your grandmother that you're gonna need to miss a few days of school." she gave him a fierce grin. "you're coming with me to Chicago."

* * *

**A/N: CANDY here~ How are we all? AWESOME! Not much to say here except there you have it; the first chapter of the GREATEST (and possibly only? *hasn't done the research :3 *) Coraline tandem story on the internet! ... or if not, it WILL be! :D Nah, but seriously folks, stick around. This is going to be epic. **

**Anywho, so the dealio is that I write one chapter, then (my beloved) KnutCase will write the next, then I will write the one after that and so on and so forth until enlightenment. You get the idea yes? Eeeeeeexcellent!  
**

**FUN FACT: The idea for this little fic came upon us whilst we were sitting waiting at the bus stop (bus stops do these things to people, have you noticed?) and was originally going to be written by only me, as a gift to Knut. Until, of course, she discovered she liked the idea so much she decided to join in. So, Knut? It's your turn now. Amaze us.**

**No pressure ;P xx  
**


	2. Dylan Moran

**Unstitchers**

**Two - **_Everyone is corrupted by hotel rooms. It's the only place you walk into, steal everything, then take your coat off.  
~ Dylan Moran_

Wybie loved having friends like Lester. Friends who, besides being musical geniuses, were also quite clever with computers. Friends who were able to forge a very convincing invitation to the Maths Competition in Chicago. It had been easy to fool his grandmother into thinking he'd actually been invited. The hardest part had been convincing Lester to actually do it.

"C'mon Les" Wybie said, sitting on the chair beside his friend. Coraline was behind him, arms folded over her chest, resting her weight on her back leg. She sniffed impatiently.

"I don't know why you'd even want to _go_…" Lester replied, playing some game on the computer, one iPod earphone in, the other hanging somewhere near his pocket.

"Because I can win it. And there's $500 up for grabs. Plus en extra $5000 for the school"

"If Coraline sucks at maths- no offence" he added to her, and she shrugged.

"None taken"

"-If she sucks, then why did she get invited instead of you?"

"She copies all my answers" Wybie stated simply. Lester scowled as his ship blew up, and 'Game Over' flashed up on the screen in big red letters. They were silent for a moment or two, then he sighed.

"Fine."

"Thank you…Coraline?" She passed him the letter, and the blonde slipped it out of the envelope. Wybie hoped he wouldn't see the message inside.

"Easy. You'll have it tomorrow" Lester said, restarting his game.

"Thanks Les"

"Whatever."

xXx

Even Coraline's parents had bought the story, and now he was sitting beside her on the plane to Chicago, with Charlie behind them. He'd agreed to take the two of them, considering he needed to visit a publisher there anyway. Wybie hadn't been on a plane in years. Not since he was very little. It was like a whole new experience for him.

Coraline was simply reading a book, while he watched people moving about outside the tiny window, preparing for take off. The flight attendant quietly asked Coraline to put her book away until they were in the air, and she did so with a little sigh.

"This is gonna be fun, Jonesy, I can tell"

"You're like a little kid on Christmas" she replied with a smile. He grinned back.

"I haven't been on a plane in ages"

"Dad hates planes. Don'tcha Dad?" she turned around to look at him, and found him with his eyes closed, leaning back and breathing deeply. He didn't answer her, so she turned back to Wybie.

"Remember the reason we're going" she told him, and he nodded, feeling the button burning in his pocket. She didn't know he had it, but he'd felt that he had to bring it. The plane started up, and the crew went through emergency procedures (This only seemed to make Charlie all the more jumpy), and soon enough they were in the air.

"…Is this Unstitchers nonsense a good idea?" Wybie asked, opening a packet of Pringles. She stole one of his, and popped it into her mouth.

"I don't see why not" she mumbled through a mouthful of chips.

"Well…suppose it's a trap-"

"We locked her up. She couldn't be behind it" Coraline said, pulling the envelope out of her bag, which was at her feet. She read it through once.

"The spelling is atrocious…" she commented. He held out his hand for the envelope, and she handed it to him.

"Yeah…it is. Looks like it's been written by a four year old" he said, pulling a face.

"So it's a prank?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, and he shrugged.

"Well, it seems pretty elaborate to be a prank. And we looked it up, the competition is real…"

"_And_ they knew about _her_" Coraline added, which made him nod.

"Yeah…that too" he agreed, handing the paper back to her, and she put it away.

Wybie leaned back in his chair with a tired sigh. His ears had done that funny popping thing, and it was annoying him.

"How d'you reckon they knew about her?" she asked him, and he cracked open an eye.

"Didn't you read it? They've _all_ had a Beldam try and get them" he said, sarcastically, and Coraline watched as he closed his eyes. He didn't think any of this was a good idea, cept for the holiday.

"She did say that…" she said softly, but he either didn't hear her, or didn't answer.

'_I didn't know I had an Other Mother'_

'_Of course. Everyone does'_

~xXx~

At the sight of the hotel room, both Wybie's and Coraline's jaws dropped. It was magnificent, with royal blue and yellow furnishings. Normally, those colours didn't work, not with rooms, but this…this made Coraline feel like a Queen.

"Heh. It's themed just for you, Jonesy" Wybie laughed, referring to her blue hair, and yellow coat. She smiled at him.

"Okay kids, here's the deal. That's my bed, and those two beds in the next room are yours. You can fight for the one next to the window" Charlie said in his tired voice, dragging his suitcase to the foot of his bed. Leaving theirs at the door, both Coraline and Wybie raced to the other room, diving on the bed by the window.

Or rather, Coraline dived on the bed, and Wybie landed on top of her.

"Ow, get off you great lump" she half laughed, half growled, elbowing him in the ribs.

"Nuh. This is my bed"

"I got here first"

"But I'm older than you are"

"By like, a month!" Coraline laughed, beginning to feel short of breath.

"So?"  
"God…Wybie…I can't breathe"

"Oh…sorry"

He got off the bed, and felt a sharp punch in the arm.

"Ow!"  
"That's what you get" she smirked. He rubbed the spot with a frown.

"What for!"

"It's 'cause of _me_ you're here at all. _I _get the better bed" she said, and he scowled, then vanished into the other room.

She wondered briefly where he had gone, until she heard him dragging his suitcase along behind him.

"Yours is right in the doorway, you might wanna move it" he said, and she assumed from his tone that he was annoyed at her, so she just rolled her eyes to herself as she collected her own suitcase.

When she came back, Wybie was stretched out on the bed. _Her_ bed. His suitcase was at the foot of it, open, and he was grinning a wide grin at her.

She let her suitcase go, and put both her hands on her hips. She opened her mouth to say something, but Charlie came up behind her.

"Oh good, you've picked beds. Coraline, move this, please. It's in the way" he sounded so tired, and winced when his toe made contact with the suitcase.

"But- what?"

"Coraline, please. I'm tired…just…move the case" She scowled at Wybie, still grinning at her, and dragged her stuff to the other bed, on the opposite side of the room.

When her back was turned, however, a little smile played on her lips. He'd spent _way_ too much time around her…

~xXx~

They were sitting on the bed by the window, sharing the biggest plate of nachos either of them had ever seen. Because the accommodation was all paid for, so was the room service. And since they'd been traveling all day, and everyone was tired, Charlie had set himself up in his giant, squashy bed with his laptop and his own (much smaller) plate of nachos, after telling them to be quiet.

"I think…this whole setup…is bollocks" Wybie said, tugging at a particularly cheesy corn chip.

"I dunno…this room service thing I could get used-"

"Not that. The Beldam thing. We should just concentrate on the competitio-"

"Aren't you even a little curious?" Coraline asked, and he shook his head.

"Nope. I think we should leave it alone, and not-"

"But there could be _more_" she told him, eyes bright. "_More_ kids are going through what I did…"

"You don't know that-"

"And some of them might not have been as lucky as me…"

They were silent for a moment, hearing only the crunching of corn chips, and the sounds of the street out the window. She set the empty plate on one of the small tables, and gave a little sigh.

"…I guess we'll just have to wait and see, huh?" he said, and she gave a little nod, uncrossing her legs and tiptoeing over to the door that separated their room from her father's. He was out like a light, his laptop still set up in front of him.

"…I'm so tired…I think I'll go to bed, Jonesy"

"Oh. Okay" she turned to face him just as he slipped underneath the thick doona.

"You should too. Important day tomorrow" he yawned, and she nodded.

"Right. We get to meet the U-"

"Judges" Wybie cut her off with a sleepy smile. "We get to meet the judges"

"…Yeah. Them" she crawled into her own bed, snuggling deep into the warm, unfamiliar blankets. After a moment, she heard Wybie's breathing slow up, and even out, so she assumed he was asleep. She heard a soft purring, and stroked Cat's thin back absentmindedly. He settled down, and she sighed in contentment.

She wondered briefly when he'd arrived before slipping into sleep.

* * *

**A/N;**_** Well**_**…**

**Firstly, my sincerest apologies. I (Knut, that is), took my time, I know…and I hope this little dose of fluffy is compensation for taking so long. And if it's not, well…reviews would be fantastic, anyway? *thumbs up***

**Fantastic!**

**I've also been told to apologise, because the next chapter can't be promised anytime soon. CANDY is a whole year level higher than I am, despite being six months younger, and she has her Year 12 exams. And she like, needs to pass. So, yeah. Instead of Unstitchers, her time will be filled with…Literature…n stuff…  
**_**Joy**_**. **

**FUN FACT; Both Authors are from Australia! Yay! Which means we have little or no idea about Chicago. Only what the internet can tell us. Which isn't much, so if there's anything we really need to know, tell us, ne?**

**Kay Mama Bear, Amaze us**

**Stay Shiny xx**

**~Knut**


	3. Leo Durocher

**Unstitchers**

**Three-** _"I never did say that you can't be a nice guy and win. I said that if I was playing third base and my mother rounded third with the winning run, I'd trip her up."  
~ Leo Durocher_

"You know," Coraline overheard a mother say to her child as they walked past, "this hotel is over one hundred years old..."  
"So?"  
Coraline herself sat at the bottom of a fancy staircase, her chin resting on her hands as she waited for Wybie to come down and join her. Dork or not- she wasn't going in there alone.

So she watched all the kids her age and sometimes their parents slowly filter past her, into the function room where the competition would be held. She couldn't help but wonder if any of these kids were the ones... the ones who sent her that letter. They would've had to be clever... to fake a spot for her in this competition... _the cleverest in the country, even... _she was beginning to feel ever so slightly out of her depth.

Something suddenly crashed into her back and sent her tumbling down the last couple steps, sprawling onto the marble floor.

"OhmygoshOhmygosh I am _SOOOO_ sorry!" Coraline turned, still winded, to see what it was that hit her. She found herself confronted with a huge pair of bright blue eyes that hovered only an inch from her nose. "Are you okay!" Coraline felt a tiny little hand grasp hers and help her to her feet.  
"Um," Coraline rubbed the back of her head. "Who are you?" Coraline could see the girl properly now. She seemed to be all freckles and wild, cherry-coloured hair. She gave Coraline a sunny grin and shook her hand enthusiastically. She was bucktoothed, Coraline noticed.

"Bonnie Jefferson!" the girl said cheerfully. "Representing Ohio! How about you?"  
"Coraline Jones." Coraline said, straightening her dress. "From, uh, Oregon..." The girl blinked at Coraline twice with her broad smile frozen in place, and Coraline felt as if she was being sized up.  
"Oregon huh?" the girl finally said, her enthusiasm sounding a little forced. Coraline thought back to the letter, eyeing the girl suspiciously. Did she know-? "What's your IQ?"

"Huh?"It was Coraline's turn to blink in confusion.  
"Your IQ." the girl, Bonnie, repeated, with a tone of voice than implied a 'duh'. Coraline mentally kicked herself. Of _course_ the other girl was sizing her up. They were at a _Maths Competition._  
"Oh... well... um... I was never really tested..." Bonnie stared at her in disbelief for a moment or two.  
"Why not? Weren't you ever curious?" She looked annoyed that Coraline hadn't given her any more information to work with.  
"I guess not-"  
"_Mines_ one hundred and thirty eight." Bonnie interrupted proudly. She seemed to actually puff out her chest. "Anyway it was great to meet you Caroline from Oregon! Good luck!" she called, before skipping away, melting into the crowd of kids that filed into the hall.

Coraline stared after her, ever so slightly unsettled at the encounter. _Well, _she thought to herself, _someone with an IQ that high probably wouldn't make such awful spelling mistakes... _Still, Coraline felt uneasy. There was no way in hell she belonged here...

"Who was that?" came a voice from behind Coraline, and she turned to see Wybie sliding down the banister and landing neatly at her feet. She actually felt happy to see him, too, which was weird enough to warrant notice.  
"Some girl from Ohio..." Coraline replied. "Hey Wybie?"  
"Yeah?"  
"What's your IQ?"

xXx

There were hundreds upon hundreds of chairs with attached writing desks filling the hall, lined up and evenly spaced in neat little regiments. People milled in and around them, buzzing with chatter. Coraline felt she might be sick, as it struck her just _how_ terrible she was at maths. She turned around, searching for Wybie who lagged behind a little, also looking around the room, expression more excited than apprehensive. She waited until he had caught up to her, reluctant to take a seat just yet.  
"Why am I here, Wybie?" she muttered, face ashen.  
"Calm down Coraline." he said absently, still looking around. "You're not here to win, anyway, remember?" he wandered off, weaving between the tables.

Suddenly Coraline felt very alone, standing awkwardly at the entrance to the room. "Um. Excuse- _Excuse me?_" she whirled to face a short black kid, with the most impressive set of braces Coraline had ever seen.  
"Hi." she said weakly.  
"You're blocking the doorway." he dead panned, glaring up at her with folded arms. He seemed like the overly-prepared type- in his pocket were a number of pens, pencils and highlighters. Coraline felt her stomach sink. Of all the things she could have forgotten...  
"Okay... oh! Right. Sorry." she shuffled to the left so he could push past, rolling his eyes.  
"Jesus..." he muttered.

Coraline glanced around for Wybie- hoping he'd brought an extra pencil she could borrow. While wandering around the tables looking for him she saw the redhead again -Bonnie- talking to a girl in purple sneakers. She wore her short black hair in pigtails high up on her head, and seemed to care more about the bubble she was blowing with her chewing gum than whatever it was Bonnie was saying to her, but still nodded at intervals and eventually said something when the bubble popped.

Coraline vaguely wondered if chewing gum was actually allowed, but shook the thought off when she spotted a familiar mop of curly brown hair off to the pair's right.  
"Wybie!" she called, ducking around tables to reach him. He glanced around for the person who had called his name, before his eyes lighted on her.  
"There you are." he said, not sounding as if he'd been particularly worried. "Hey Coraline, this is Jeff." he gestured to the person sitting next to him, a kid with long brown hair under a backwards baseball cap.  
"With a J not a G." he said with a sunny smile, holding out his hand to shake hers. She didn't take it, sick of new people already.

"Nice to meet you." she said shortly before turning to Wybie. "You got a pen I could borrow?"

"You didn't bring one?" he asked, after exchanging a '_she's like that_' look with his new pal Jeff.  
"Yeah, I've got it with me right here- would I be _asking_ you for a pen if I _had_ one, Genius!" she growled, anxiety making her easily frustrated.  
"Chill out, Jonesy." Wybie said, fishing a pen out of his pocket and handing it to her. "You'll be okay...okay?"  
"Why couldn't it be international _dodge-ball!" _she exploded as she stormed off to find her own empty table.

xXx

Ten minutes into the first test (50 multiple-choice questions in one hour; calculators permitted) and Coraline had already started typing faces into her calculator. Not before reading every little note scratched into her desktop, of course ("JaXen- with an X" and "PWNIES!" among other things) , and even adding her own (Coraline's soul died here- 2010).

Once that was done she just stared around the room at the other kids, who were busy scribbling answers down on their own papers. Except one boy- with red hair that stood on end, giving the impression that his head was on fire, who just stared at her for a moment or two with improbably dark eyes. It was a little unnerving actually. Again, the possibility that he was one of the people who had sent that letter sent a chill through her and she focused on her test paper once more. _This is hopeless..._

An idea struck her, and she sat up straight, raising her hand. One of the overseers shuffled down from the front of the hall, leaning over her with watery eyes and a red nose.  
"Yes?" he asked in a faint, reedy voice.  
"Can I-"  
"Shhh!"  
"Oh sorry," she started again, softer now, "can I go to the bathroom please?" He looked at her test, with only two questions answered and several caricatures drawn on it. He frowned.  
"You realise there are only twelve minutes left-"  
"I realise. Please." she gave him a deadly serious look. "I _really_ have to go, mister..."  
"Go on, then." he said, a little disgruntled but unwilling to put up an argument. She leapt to her feet and fled the room, drawing in a deep breath when she finally made it outside.

"Freedom!" she whispered triumphantly, before making a beeline for the bathrooms nearest to the function centre. The walls were painted a fetching shade of beige, lit by some rectangular light fixtures that Coraline figured were supposed to be modern-looking. She headed for the stall nearest the door, not because she particularly needed to go to the toilet, but because what else was someone supposed to do in a bathroom?

When she couldn't procrastinate any longer she headed for the sinks with a sigh. While washing her hands she heard a flush in a couple stalls over, and glanced up. She watched in the mirror as the door opened, and at the sight of the girl who stepped out in shiny black t-bars, her blood ran cold.

This girl had long, wavy white hair and wore a clothes that looked like they'd been handed down from person to person since in the fifties. She would've been quite pretty, too- had it not been for the surgical patch that covered her right eye. She gave Coraline a shy smile when she noticed her staring in the mirror.  
"Hi." she said in a soft, breathy voice. Coraline could only stare. The little girl noticed this, and frowned in concern. "Are you okay?" she asked kindly, if distantly- like her mind was elsewhere.  
"Yeah- I- what happened to your eye?" she blurted.  
"Oh..." the girl said, looking down. "... an accident."  
"I'm sorry..." she said and decided not to push it, despite how fascinated and morbidly curious she was. If this girl was one of the ones that sent the letter, then that meant... "Um... what's your name?"  
"Claire." the girl said softly. "What's yours?"  
"Coraline."  
"It was nice to meet you, Coraline." she said sweetly, heading towards the door. As it swung shut, Coraline realised she couldn't hold it in any more. Not after seeing that eye-patch. She bolted towards it, pulling it open.  
"Wait! Are you-" _Huh? _

She looked left, down towards the function room, then right, towards the rest of the hotel. The girl, Claire, was nowhere to be seen. _Freaky_... Coraline tried to shake off the ominous feeling that had settled in her stomach, reluctantly resolving to head back.

Until, of course, she caught sight of a shape in a doorway off to the right of the hall. He sat there on his haunches, watching her with amused blue eyes. She stopped in her tracks.  
"_Cat_?" he turned his head to the side, and she copied him. "What are _you_ doing here? How did you even _get-_" he disappeared around the side of the door frame. With one look over her shoulder towards the testing-room, she decided to skip it and follow him- confident now that something fishy was going on.

She found herself in another function room, smaller, and full of round tables. After establishing that Cat was not here, she continued on, through the door in the other side of the room, finding herself in another long hallway. At one end there was another staircase, winding around itself as it climbed between floors. At the other end Cat sat, right below something that looked like... a little door. A little door in the wall, at about chest height.

"Oh _no_..." Coraline stared at it, face going ashen. Cat meowed impatiently. "What?" He stood on his hind legs, pawing at the door, before sitting back down and meowing at her again. Her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, no." she replied flatly, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "I'm not stupid." She strode over and picked Cat up, despite receiving violent protests. "Uh-uh." she said, carrying him away, with a paw in her face. "No more mysterious doors. I'm _done _with all that."

xXx

Charlie had gone to bed an hour or two ago, leaving Coraline and Wybie to watch the TV with the gentle reminder that "If you don't get to sleep at a reasonable hour you'll fail all your tests tomorrow." They'd watched the info-mercials in silence for the majority of the time, (Save _hundreds _of dollars on haircuts with FLOWBEE! The latest in vacuum cleaner attachments!) and it wasn't until Coraline was finally nodding off that Wybie finally spoke.

"Where were you all day?"  
"Huh?" Coraline jerked awake, rubbing her eyes.  
"You walked out halfway through and never came back." he blinked at her with curious brown eyes.

"Oh..." she sat up, facing him and crossing her legs. "Well, I went to the bathroom..." He raised an eyebrow that might have meant '_For two hours?'_ "And then I got ...distracted. By, um... Cat."  
"Wait- what?" he frowned in confusion. "_Cat?"_  
"Yeah... Um..." how to put this... "You know he can sometimes just... well, _disappear?_ And then reappear somewhere else?" he felt her cheeks burn, realising how stupid it sounded. Wybie, however was sitting forward on his bed, eyes wide.  
"You noticed that too?" he sounded relieved that he wasn't insane. She nodded with fervour.  
"And I think that's how he got here..." she explained. Weirder things had happened, before, after all...  
"Right. So you followed him, and..."  
"And he led me to, um..." she examined her knee. He frowned.

"What, Jonesy?"  
"A little door." it came out a mumbled jumble of words.

"..."

He stared at her, open-mouthed for a moment. "Oh _hell_ no." He stood, folding his arms. "No. No way."  
"I know!" she also sat forward. "That's what I said! But why would there be one here?- its a _hotel_-"  
"_Exactly! _How many kids do you think come through here every day? It'd be a goldmine! And its in the middle of Chicago! No one would think twice if anyone went missing." Wybie wasn't making Coraline feel any safer. She kneaded the blanket nervously with her hands.  
"You really think there's a B-"

_"Mroww."_

Both heads whipped around to face the doorway, from which blinked two baleful blue eyes.  
"_Cat!" _they spluttered in unison. Cat proceeded to daintily scratch his ear with his hind foot, before turning and disappearing again. Coraline and Wybie shared a look.

"I think-"  
"Don't, J-"  
"I _think," _she asserted, "that he wants us to follow him."  
Wybie moaned, putting his face in his hands. "Don't you _watch_ movies!" he exploded, before listing things off on his fingers. "You _don't _leave the window open, you _don't _go to check where that noise came from, and you definitely _don't _follow the-"  
"Wybie. Shut up and put on your shoes."

xXx

The hotel was eerie at night. There were lights along the floors of the corridors, lights to see where you were walking by. Still, shadows laced every corner like spider webs, and Coraline walked as closely to Wybie as she could without touching. By the faint light she could see the expression on his face- an expression that spoke of how much he _didn't_ want to be here, doing this.

Cat always stayed a step or two ahead, ducking around corners, down stairs. Coraline couldn't help but be forcefully reminded of the similarity between this situation and the way the jumping mice had originally led her down into the Other-World. Then again, it had always been the _mice, _and never _Cat._ She trusted cat. Still, she couldn't help but feel uneasy when she realised she'd lost track of which way they'd come. What if they had to quickly find their way back? She wouldn't know the way... Cat, however, gave her no time to stop and think, just prowled on through the silent hotel. Eventually, after going through a couple out-of-the-way doors that probably should have been locked, they found themselves in-

"The car park?" Wybie whispered as they both looked around the numbered concrete pillars and car silhouettes. It was awfully dark; Coraline wished she'd had the foresight to bring a torch. Dark and _cold. _She shivered, looking again for Cat in the shadows. Her stomach flipped. She couldn't see him. Maybe they should head back...

"_Found her!_"

The light hit her eyes, and Coraline screamed.

* * *

**A/N: CANDY here!~ Firstly let me apologise HUGELY for the delay. I would feed you some crap about my final exams but since you're probably not interested, I will instead pose you this question; if there was an 'Other-World' in **_**your**_** house, where would the entrance be? ^^ Leave your answer in a review. (See what I did there?)**

**OH! Also, since I am so awfully, incredibly tardy, this chapter of Unstitchers is one half of a kind of 'double' chapter... _thing_. Like, an uber special awesome double-episode of Unstitchersy goodness to say sorry for making you all wait so long. Well that and this chapter was getting so damn long Knut and I figured it needed to be split into two =P Anyhow, the next half will be coming veeeery soon. *Mystery Arms* and in keeping with tradition...**

**FUN FACT: I HATE MATHS. And so does KnutCase, so you are unlikely to find any actual maths problems in this story. (I know, it's nothing short of heartbreaking) It was painful enough having to research what actually goes on at maths competitions anyway (neither of us having actually BEEN to one, being English nerds =P ). That being said, we hope our depiction isn't too far off the mark and it if is, well Hell, we'll just have to make up for it in other areas. (Also, that 'Flowbee' thing? I swear I'm not making that up. )**

**Phew! Long one today! Anyhow, stay shiny and I'll be seeing you again veeeery soon.  
CANDY xx**


	4. Bishop Fulton J Sheen

**Unstitchers**

**Four (Or Three Part 2) - **_"There is always danger when those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command." __**  
**__~ Bishop Fulton J Sheen _

Blinded by a torch-beam to the face, Coraline jumped in shock and terror, stumbling back into Wybie and grabbing his arm tightly. Whoever was shining the light at her was sitting on the bonnet of one of the cars, but she couldn't see whoever it was.

"Oh hey, there's another kid here too." The beam shifted to Wybie, who tried to block it with his hand. There was something about the voice... she felt she recognised it, but couldn't quite remember from where...

"Well, bring him along too, then Alice can decide what to do with him." she didn't recognise _that_ voice, that came from their left. _Two people? Or more?_ She could feel Wybie tremble ever so slightly through his sleeve. Eventually, though, the torch was lowered to the floor, and she blinked a couple times until she was able to make out the shapes of the two people. One of them walked towards her, holding out his hand.

"So _you're_ Coraline." That's where she knew his voice from! It was the kid from the test! The black kid, with all the braces and pens! "Can I just say, it's an honour to meet you." in the reflected light of the flash-light, she could see he was smiling at her. He seemed a lot more friendly now than he had then... Still, she didn't shake his hand.  
"So you're..." Coraline found it difficult still to form sentences, her heart racing as it was. "You're one of the..."

"The Unstitchers. That's right." he interrupted conversationally. "We're an organisation of kids like yourself who've taken it upon ourselves to rid the world of Beldams." The way he used the word so easily both shocked her and comforted her, somehow... Once he'd worked out she wasn't going to shake his hand he withdrew it, stuffing it into his pocket. "My names Doug. I think we met before, at the test?And that guy over there is Loki."

He pointed to the owner of the other voice, who Coraline eventually recognised as the boy with all the red hair, who had been staring at her during the test. _And now I know why... _  
"Great to meet an Oregonian witch-slayer." aforementioned redhead put in smoothly with a charming smile, leaning back against one of the cars. He wore a black shirt with a skull on it, she noticed.  
Doug then turned to Wybie. "So... who the hell are _you_?" his tone became ever so slightly less friendly; just enough to notice.

"Wybie." Wybie replied stiffly. _He'd_ noticed. He removed his arm from Coraline's grip, before folding both of them across his chest defensively.  
"And what are _you_ doing here?"  
"He's with me." Coraline said quickly and firmly, "He's my neighbour- friend." if Wybie was surprised at all at her use of the word, she couldn't see it in the dark. "He... helped me beat her... _last_ time." Doug said nothing for a few moments, looking Wybie over.  
"Well I guess we'll let Alice decide." he gave them both a brief smile. "Follow me."

Coraline shared a look with Wybie. His expression said something like 'I didn't sign up for this' but he followed her anyway, when she timidly stumbled after the black kid, Doug. Loki followed behind them all.  
"Alice?" she repeated, turning to Doug. "Who's that?"  
"You'll get to meet her in a minute." the boy replied, his voice light. "She's the oldest one of us- she started the whole thing. They say she's killed more than _fourteen_. But she's really nice, don't worry. You'll like her." His cheerful, enthusiastic attitude made it difficult for Coraline to remain scared.

Instead she was developing a dreadful curiosity. A billion questions sprang to mind, but she settled on "How many of you are there?"  
"Five at the moment." said Doug. "There's probably a lot more of us out there but it's hard to track them down, you know? Mostly its just pure luck. So we've got five since the last girl joined us. She's not much older than you. Six if since you're joining. I'm assuming you _are _joining, right? Since you're here?"  
"Oh, well I-"

"Hey Doug! Loki!" Another beam of light hit them over the bonnet of someone's VW beetle. Coraline squinted into the light, hanging back at Wybie's elbow. "Oh wow! Good job! You found her!"  
"_Bonnie?"_  
"Hey Coraline!" the wild-haired girl said with her buck-toothed grin. "Welcome to the club!" She leapt over the hood of the car, falling into step with Coraline, linking her arm. With the extra torch light it was easier to see, at least...

"Hey I gotta ask..."  
"Um... yeah?" Coraline was only a little thrown off-guard by the girl's familiarity. She glanced back at Wybie to make sure he was still there, and he gave her a stiff little smile. He looked awfully uncomfortable. She, however, was finding it increasingly easier to relax amongst these people. They'd been through exactly the same thing as her... she wondered what their intention was, in inviting her to join...

"What kinda bug was she?"  
"_What!"_ her head snapped around to face Bonnie, eyes wide.  
"Your other mother?"  
"_Beldam, _Bonnie." Doug corrected her, anally.  
"Oh, what_ever._" Bonnie laughed. "Same difference. But yeah, what kinda bug was she? Mine was a ladybug. Loki's was a _mosquito- _isn't that gross?"  
"Oh... well..." How could they talk about it so casually? "she... a spider. She was a spider." she nearly whispered it. Wybie's eyes were fixed on her. She'd never told him that particular detail...  
"Oh wow!" Bonnie looked at her too, with wide eyes. "That's the same as Alice's!"  
"And Alice is your-"  
"Our leader." Bonnie finished for her, nodding. "She really knows what she's talking about. She'll give you the full run-down when we get there. C'mon."  
"Run down? Of what?"  
"You'll see in a minute."

Bonnie noticed Wybie. "What's your name? Did you have one too?" she seemed a lot more happy to see him than either Doug or Loki had. She hung back for him to catch up.  
"No... No I didn't have one- I just helped Coraline... Wybie. My name's Wybie."  
"Oh wow!" Coraline noticed the other girl said 'wow' a lot; something she felt was going to get on her nerves... "You must've been pretty brave to go up against a Beldam that wasn't even _yours_."  
"Oh, no. No... well, I never really met with her face to face. Not like Coraline." he threw Coraline another glance. "I only really helped with the... needley-hand-thing..."  
"Needle hand?" it was Loki who piped up this time, from the back. They turned towards him. He was looking at Coraline. "You got her to her true form?" Everyone's eyes were on her now.  
"Wow..." Bonnie said softly.  
"With the scales and the metal and stuff?" Coraline clarified. Even Doug looked impressed.  
"No one but Alice has ever gone _that_ far before." Doug said. "You must've-" His words were cut off when the fluorescent lights that adorned the ceiling in neat regiments shuddered gracelessly into life. Coraline blinked a couple times to try to get used to the blinding light, and when she did, she saw the girl.

Coraline realised she recognised this girl too, who stood on the roof of another car, looking down at them with her hands on her hips. Coraline recognised the black hair worn in high pigtails, the scuffed and filthy purple sneakers underneath torn jeans- but what finally clicked for it in her mind was the huge pink bubble the girl was blowing. It popped and she sucked the gum back into her mouth to continue chewing it.

"Alice!" Doug said with a slightly fearful smile.  
"Hello moron." the girl drawled in a thick Brooklyn accent. "So you found our newest loser..." her powdery blue eyes lingered on Coraline. "But, um..." she frowned in irritation when she noticed Wybie. "What's with Quasimodo?" Wybie physically recoiled, and even Coraline, who insulted Wybie on regular basis couldn't stop her mouth falling open. She made to angrily retort, but was silenced by a serious look and a head-shake from Bonnie. Confused and more than a little angry at the bubble-blowing girl's attitude, Coraline resolved to seethe in silence.

"He helped Coraline fight off her Beldam." Loki explained, shrugging. He was the only one who didn't seem even a _little_ bit frightened of the girl, Alice. Maybe because he, like her, exuded a certain toughness...

"I don't recall writing 'bring a friend' on that invite anywhere." Alice replied, sourly. Coraline chewed back a remark that had something to do with 'You wrote it? Then where in God's name did you learn to spell, anyway!' It wouldn't do to make this girl dislike her any more than she already appeared to do. Loki pushed past Coraline then, hopping up onto the car. He leant down to whisper something in Alice's ear. She frowned, then a little smile tugged at the corner of her lips. When he pulled back again, she sighed. "Okay that's fine," she said to him as he leapt down, landing with a soft thump. "But if he gets in the way, you and Windex over there are gonna be responsible. Got it?"

"_Windex!"_ Coraline exploded.

"She means you." Bonnie added for Coraline's benefit, completely missing the point. "cause of your hair." Coraline gritted her teeth to avoid another outburst. Wybie, still recovering from the previous blow remained silent, but the dark, furious look he shared with Coraline did all the talking for him.

Alice herself smirked a little at the collective reaction, before sitting down on the car.

"Well once the other new kid can motivate her ass in this general direction, we'll have a little pow-wow where I'll explain the whole deal, and then if you feel the need you two can ask questions after. That cool with you?" she gave them a friendly smile.

This threw Coraline off-guard, and she wondered if she needed to reassess this girl that sat in front of them. Maybe she wasn't so bad, if a little rough around the edges. Doug had said she was nice, despite the fact that she had called him 'Moron'. Maybe that was a term of affection? She still wasn't sure, but she had resolved to at least not take anything at face-value. And stick close to Wybie, just in case.  
"Sure." she said slowly. "So, um. What's-"  
"Sorry, am I late?"

Coraline's head whipped around to face the new voice. A soft, sweet voice that came from a petite, white-haired girl. A girl with an eye-patch. _I knew it!_ She wore a pretty white night-dress, and carried in her arms a cat. Coraline was about to say something, but then she realised that this cat- though scrawny and with blue eyes- was grey, not black.  
"Cat?" Wybie obviously hadn't noticed.  
"His name is Gray." Claire said with a little smile. The cat in her arms blinked a couple times at the group of them, lazily. On closer inspection, Coraline noticed that he was very old- his muzzle and ears were shot with white.

Suddenly something nudged Wybie's elbow. He looked down to meet another- this time very unimpressed- pair of blue eyes.  
"Two cats?" Coraline voiced her thoughts aloud. She remembered what the letter had said; '_We have heard of your own success from our cat'... This cat?_  
"Six." Loki put in lazily. "Everybody has one. It's one of those things that's always the same, y'know? Like the blue tunnel, or the doll..." As he spoke another cat appeared, slinking out from behind the tyre of the car he leant against. A gorgeous long-haired white cat, that began to rub up against his elbow, purring.  
"Who's that?" Coraline asked him with a small smile, as he began to pat the white cat. They _all_ had a cat that had helped them too? They really were just like her...  
"Her name's Duchess."  
"Like in the movie?" she asked. He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.  
"For the _last time_, I never even _saw_ that movie." it seemed rehearsed; like he'd been teased about that before. "I swear. She was already named when my parents got her."  
"Riiiiight."  
"When y'all little girls are finished..." Alice sounded bored.

When Coraline turned to face the rest of the group, she saw that a couple more felines had joined them; a handsome ginger tom sat drooling contentedly on Doug's lap, a twitchy Burmese kitten was trying to climb onto Bonnie's head and to Alice's left sat the most scary looking cat Coraline had ever seen.

It was a battered and brawny tortoiseshell with an entire ear missing, and it glared out at them in exactly the same way that the bubble-blowing girl did. As Coraline stared into its angry green eyes she felt she was drowning in the onslaught of thoughts and question that had flooded her mind since Cat had first appeared at the door. There was something so strange, yet so uncannily familiar about every aspect of these new people. She wanted so badly to know...

"So... the noobs." Alice crossed her legs, resting her elbows on her knees and looking from Coraline, to Wybie, to Claire. "Hi, and all that, I guess. You're all like... _alive,_ which I guess means y'all basically know what you're doing..." she looked a little bit hesitant, but she continued to speak. "Look, I'm gonna get straight to the point, cause y'all are probably wondering why the hell you're here..." _No kidding... _"So... there's a Beldam somewhere in the hotel." Her words were met complete silence.

"And she's not _just_ a Beldam, either, or else we could probably deal with her without recruiting y'all to help. See, she's the fucking _Queen-Mother_ Beldam. The way I figure it, she's the one who tells all the other ones what to do, and they all answer back to her." Her hands shook a little, but there was a fire in her eyes.  
"So what are we gonna do?" Bonnie asked the soft question. From the look on her face, it seemed Alice only had to say the word and any of the other of the kids would do whatever she commanded. Alice looked up then, looking them each hard in the eye.

"What the hell do you think!" she growled. "We're gonna kill the evil bitch."

* * *

**A/N: Ahoy there once again, it's CANDY. Here is your Chapter 3 Part 2. However, since naming it as such would screw with 's whole system, it's gonna be called Chapter 4. And you've finally met the Unstitchers themselves! Hurray! The plot is finally here! It's exciting, no? And a Queen-Beldam! In the hotel! Oh noez! Is it the little door Coraline found earlier on? Whatever does Alice have in mind! Stay tuned to find out!  
**

**FUN FACT: The hotel in question we are loosely basing off one Hotel Burnham- one of Chicago's oldest hotels, and one that has a rather nifty colour-scheme of royal blue and yellow. Sound familiar? :3 Not entirely sure if it has a car park of this nature... but ehhh. Artistic License :3 **

**Anywho, that's about all for today. Adios, amigos! Stay shiny! And Knut? Your turrrrn~ ;) Amaze us.  
CANDY.**


	5. Gaston Leroux

**Unstitchers; **_**Gaston Leroux**_

_**5. '**__**I am not really wicked. Love me, and you will see!'  
**__**-Gaston Leroux (The Phantom of the Opera.)**_

Coraline was trying out a new tactic for making the tests go quicker. She'd written her name in the space provided, and flicked through the book. On one of the questions, there was a big graph, so she'd drawn an elephant on it. Underneath the question, she'd written 'I can't see the graph, there is an elephant in the way. I therefore cannot answer the question'. On another question, she'd blacked out all the vowels, and the one underneath it all the consonants. Letting her English preference shine through. Then she'd curled up on the desk and fallen asleep with an hour and a half to go.

Wybie had finished his test already, and was drawing on a scrap piece of paper another contraption for his bike when he noticed that Jonesy had fallen asleep. He smiled a little in amusement, and looked up at the clock. Only fifteen minutes. _Good_, he thought. He was dying to talk about last night...with the _Unstitchers_. It had been floating around in his head all morning, but he'd been forced to push it to the back of his mind as he was faced with ridiculous problems such as _Find the equation of a straight line that has a gradient of -4/3 and passes through the point (1,-3)._ He'd found the answer easily, of course, after scribbling around a bit on the scrap paper (_y= 4/3x - 5/3_), but that wasn't the point.

Five minutes. Everyone around him was either scribbling frantically in a rush to finish, or stretching, having finished already. He couldn't see _any_ of the Unst- oh wait... there was Claire. She was sitting a little forward of him, and to his right, and she was finished already, it looked like.

"Pencils down" called the weedy man up the front, and he saw Coraline stir a little. Soft chatter filled the hall, and he shh'ed them while other adults wandered around collecting the papers.  
"You can leave" Hundreds of chairs scraped across the floor, and the noise grew in volume almost immediately. Wybie weaved his way through the people and found Coraline still sitting in her chair.

She stretched.

"You fell asleep" he stated, smirking a little in amusement. She raised an eyebrow.

"And you didn't? Wow, you really are a super nerd" she shot back, getting to her feet. He grinned, her insults just bouncing off him like they always did. He was so used to it.

"So...what now?" He asked, as they walked out of the hall together. She shrugged.

"We'll ask my dad if he can take us shopping. We need costumes now" she groaned, and he nodded, remembering.

The end of the competition, when the awards were presented, was on Halloween, and there was a big party in one of the ballrooms. The Unstitchers had told them that they weren't allowed to skip out on it. Coraline hadn't wanted to go in the beginning, but now it looked like they had to, which meant they needed costumes. They stood in the elevator in silence, both very tired from running around all night. She yawned, making Wybie yawn, and they both grinned at each other. When they got into their room, Charlie was (Surprise, surprise) working on his laptop.

"Hey dad, we're back" Coraline said, going straight to the mini-fridge. She got out two cans of soft drink, and handed one to Wybie. Charlie typed for a second longer, then looked up.

"Hey kids. How'd you go?"  
"Delayed reaction, much?" Coraline said, at the same time Wybie said 'Good, Mr. Jones'.

"So what're you doing now? Whatever it is, you've gotta keep it down and let me work-"

"Can we go shopping? We need costumes for the Halloween Party, apparently" Charlie set his laptop back, and frowned a little.

"I really need to get this work done-"

"We can go by ourselves" she said quickly. "We're old enough, dad"

"I really don't like the idea of you walking around a strange city as big as Chicago by yourselves..." he said, and she sat down on the bed at his feet.

"Aww, c'mon...we'll be fine" she whined, and he looked at his watch.

"...How long do you think it'll take?"

Coraline exchanged a glance with Wybie.

"Dunno. Couple hours?" Charlie pulled a face as he stared at his watch.

"...It is now...11:30. I'll drop you off at the big shopping complex, and you can stay there until...I dunno, when do you want me to pick you up?"

"Two?" Coraline offered, and he chewed over it for a while.

"...Fine. Two. Get a jacket, Coraline, it's cooler than you think out there..."

~xXx~

Coraline and Wybie were peering through the window of the rental car they'd gotten for their trip.

"I will pick you up right here at two. You are _not _to leave this complex. You are _not_ to go anywhere by yourselves. You are _not_ to...wait, you are to _call_ me if something happens, or you need picking up early, _do you understand_?"

"Yes, dad, we'll be fine. Promise" Coraline said, and he nodded. Then he pulled some money out of his wallet and handed it to Coraline, who's face lit up. "Thankyou~!"

"I want chan-" they'd already began to walk away. "Be _careful_" he called after them, and watched them go into the complex. Then he drove away, wondering if he'd done the right thing.

"Wow" Wybie said, looking up. "This place...is _huge_"

"Let's go find costumes first, huh? Then we can look around" Coraline suggested. She dragged him over to a store directory, and found that there was a costume shop on the third floor. It took them a while to find the escalator, and when they did, it was crowded. She found herself jammed between Wybie and the safety barrier, with someone's shopping bag in her face and another person's face behind her shoulders.

"So...um. I was wondering, coz we never really got to talk about it last night..." Wybie began curiously. "What do you think about the Unstitchers?" She looked horrified.

"Shh! Not so loud, you dolt!" she hissed. He laughed.

"Jonesy, even if anyone was listening to the conversation between two teenagers, they wouldn't understand it anyway. We're fine" he said, and she calmed down a little.

"Oh...kay. Well, um...Alice is a bit...y'know-"

"Bitchy?" he offered, making her grin.

"That's the one...I mean seriously, _Windex?_" They were free from the over-crowded escalator, and saw the costume shop. It was decorated in true Halloween spirit, orange and black, spiderwebs and skeletons. The whole package. As they browsed through the hundreds of costumes, they continued to talk about the Unstitchers.

"-just _knew_ that Claire was one of them...like, before I knew. I met her in the bathroom yesterday"

"Yeah? Did she say anything?"  
"Not really...just 'hello'..." Coraline said, holding out a red devils costume with a grin. "Hey Wybie, what about this one?"

"Oh...umm...you have blue hair, Jonesy" he pointed out. She put it back.

"Oh yeah..."

"...Her cat looked older than ours" He picked back up where the conversation had stopped.

"Yeah, he did. And Cat's pretty old, isn't he?"  
"I've known him since I first moved in with my Gramma...I was...six, I think"

"Yeah?"

"Yup. And he wasn't exactly a kitten back then either" he chuckled, and she smiled a little.

"What about this?" she asked, holding up a medieval-style dress. He tilted his head.

"Why don't you try it on?" he said, and she spied the changerooms, and grinned as she ran towards them.

She managed to pull the dress up, but said a mild swear word when she realised it was a proper dress, with clasps and laces. And the boning was digging into her ribs.

"Wybie...I can't even do it up" she said, and he thought for a moment.

"Okay, hang on. I'll get the lady at the counter"

"What! No-" he'd already run off.

Coraline heard them coming back, and heard a knock on the door.

"You alright in there, love?"

"I can't get the back done up" she replied, and the woman came into the dressing room. They were big, to accommodate more extravagant costumes than the one she was wearing.

"Oh, alright. Turn around, and I'll fix that" she said, and her fingers moved swiftly, and within a minute the back was all done up.

The door opened, and Wybie was fumbling with his shiny new camera. He looked up, and smiled.

"Wow. That's really cool...you look like a princess" he said, snapping a photo. She poked her tongue out, and another photo was taken.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Aren't you sposed to take photos on holidays?" he countered.

"Well...okay. As long as I get to take them of you"

"Fine" he replied, and she grinned. "So...you want that one?"  
"Well...it's a bit long. And it's digging into me...and it _is_ the first one I picked..."

"Well...go get another one then" he said, and she vanished into the dressing room again. The woman helped her undo the clasps, and then left them to race around the store, piling up costumes and just having fun altogether.

She had her photo taken as Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz, and he had his taken of a knight in chain mail with a big sword. He was also a werewolf, with furry hands and mask, and even a tail. Coraline's next one was a bumblebee, and then a harlequin clown. He danced around with an axe embedded in his back, and as a football player, and fell about laughing with tears in his eyes as she started dancing around in a giant hippopotamus costume - one of the full body, oversized head types. She complained that the skeleton costume was too similar to how he normally dressed, and he told her that the policemans costume was too boyish.

"You guys have been at it for an hour...you picked anything yet?" the woman at the counter smiled, eyes bright. They looked up at her.

"There's just so _many_" Coraline giggled.

"That's true...do you want some help?"

"Yeah, why not? We have to go home at two" Wybie said, and Coraline nodded in agreement. The woman disappeared into the shelves, and came back with a few costumes draped over each arm.

"Okay, these are yours, and these are yours...tell me what you think" she said, and they both vanished into the dressing rooms. Coraline came out a moment later in a doll-like dress, while Wybie was wearing what looked like a ringmasters outfit. She burst into laughter, and held out her hand for the camera.

"You look like Mr. Bobinsky" she laughed, taking a photo, not realising that he actually looked like the _Other_ Mr. B.

"And you look like...a music box doll" he said, taking the camera back and taking a photo of her. They retreated into the dressing rooms again, and came out a moment later.

Coraline was wearing a short black dress, designed to look tattered, with long sleeves and a pointy hat on her head. Wybie, who was wearing some sort of superhero outfit, looked at it.

"...I like that one, Jonesy" he said, and she spun around.

"You reckon? The witch?"

"Yeah...go with that" he said, and she giggled happily, having found her costume.

"...Do you have any more?"

"Yup. One more" he said, going back into the dressing room. When he came out, Coraline had the witch costume in a protective jacket draped over her arm, and was back in her original outfit - simple jeans and a t-shirt.

"...Who're you meant to be?" she asked, frowning. He was wearing a suit-like outfit, but it was mostly hidden by a thick dark cape.  
"I- um...I'm not sure" Wybie confessed, and the woman laughed.

"Where's your mask?" she asked.

"There was a mask?" The woman came out of the dressing room holding up a white half-mask.

"_OH!_" Coraline felt a grin split her face. "The Phantom of the Opera...oh man, Wybie...please wear that one"

"...Umm, if you really want me to?" he said, looking at himself in the mirror. She snapped a few photos, then her stomach growled quite loudly. He laughed. "Hungry?"

"Uhuh...wanna get outta here and get some lunch?"

"Yes please" she said, and he got out of his costume, and they paid for them, then wandered into the food court. It was 12:30, so the place was crowded. They sat at a table, and Wybie took the money and went to buy them both something from McDonalds, while Coraline minded the table and went through the photos on the camera. She couldn't keep the smile off her face...she'd have to show Abbey these... _'This is what you do at Maths Competitions..._'

Wybie knew that leaving Coraline alone was a direct violation of Charlie's 'Don't split up' rule, but they were lucky to have found the table that they got...if they both left, then they'd lose it, and have to eat standing up. And he didn't want to do that. After waiting in the line for a while, he reached the counter, where he ordered himself a large Quarter Pounder, and then ordered Jonesy a...Happy Meal.

"Would you like the girls toy, or the boys toy with that?"

"Wybie! Look at that one!" Coraline giggled, holding out the camera so he could look at the screen. Dorothy-Coraline and Knight-Wybie, pulling faces. He laughed.

"Gosh we're attractive. Here's your Happy Meal" he placed it down in front of her. "Are you sure that's all you want?"

"Yup" she replied, taking a bite of her cheesburger (after pulling out the pickle, a look of pure disgust on her face as Wybie took it and ate it). "That's gross"

"They don't taste that bad" he replied, frowning as she piled chips into the cheeseburger. "_That_ is gross"

"You've never done this before?"

"No. And I'm not about to start" he said, and she shrugged. They ate in silence for a while, then struck up a conversation about the Unstitchers once more.

"-really are just like me...I mean...their Beldams were all bugs...and they had cats to help them..."

"I still think it's weird, Jonesy" Wybie said, picking at his chips. "I mean...that kid with the braces-"

"Doug"

"-Doug, yeah...he said Alice had killed _fourteen_ Beldams..."

Coraline was chewing on the end of her straw, sipping at the watery coke inside occasionally. "Yeah? So?"

"Well, I just...don't believe it...like how the hell do you even kill a Beldam?" he asked, moving on to her chips - the ones that had been saved from being stuffed in her cheeseburger.

"I dunno...but she knows. They all do...and they're gonna teach us so that we can _help_ them..."

"Okay, fine. Let's say we do learn. Do you really think we can take down the _Queen-Mother Beldam_!" his voice was getting a little loud.

"Keep it down a little, kay?" she told him, and he nodded. "I dunno how you kill one...I really don't. I didn't kill mine...but I really think that these other kids can help us"

"Well..._I_ think that you can't trust them. Any of them." he said firmly. They put their rubbish in the bin, and decided to wander around for a while. Coraline stopped to tie her show, just outside a tattoo studio. In the window was a display of some rather...gory tattooes. Wybie found himself staring at one of a woman with wild dark hair in a white dress with a stake going right through the middle of her body. By the look on her face, she was screaming in agony.

"Hey Jonesy" he said, and she looked up. He tapped the glass with a gloved knuckle. "Reckon that'd work?"

"...You're gonna get that tattooed on you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No, genius, would that work on a _Beldam_?" he rolled his eyes. Coraline finished tying her laces, and got up to have a closer look.

"...Eew...umm...god that's awful, why would someone wanna put that on their _skin_?"

"Because they're lunatics...look at that one" he pointed to one higher up, and she winced.

"Wybie, that's terrible"

They walked away from the tattoo shop, tossing ideas back and forth about how to kill a Beldam.

"Maybe...maybe you have to hang her...like, with a noose?"

"Nah...it'd be something brutal. You'd have to be really clever...otherwise there'd be more Unstitchers" Wybie replied, and they found themselves looking around a souvenir store. "Like...what about if you set her on fire? Or threw water at her?"

"No, that wouldn't work. She wouldn't have either in the house if it could kill her, and you know, she did dishes and stuff, and there was a fire in the fireplace"

"Oh..."

"We could always just drop something really heavy on her...?" Coraline suggested.

"Maybe...hey Jonesy, look" She looked up and saw a shelf of snowglobes. "Doesn't your mum collect these?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should get her one?"

"Go on...she'll think it was really nice of you" Coraline picked one, and paid for it at the counter while Wybie was looking at a little doll with button eyes. He put it down before Jonesy saw it, and followed her out of the store. They wandered into a few more stores, buying useless things, or things they didn't need.

For example, Wybie bought a stupid little pen that lit up when you wrote with it. It was fascinating him.

"I am _so_ taking this into the test tomorrow..."

"You're actually going?"

"You're...not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...I dunno. Maybe. I don't really _want_ to..." she said, and they fell into silence. She was wearing a new hat - it was a grey, and looked like a train drivers cap.

"I was just thinking, when we get back to the hotel, we should find Cat...make sure he's not in trouble, you know? And maybe we can get him some room-service fish, or something...bet he'd like that-"

"Coraline...what did the Beldam look like?" he asked, and she looked at him.

"...Why?"

"I just, had an idea...is all"

"Well, tell me what it is first" she said, putting the snowglobe in her bag.

"Well...the group is called the _Unstitchers_...is that how you kill a Beldam? Unstitch her?" he asked, and she pondered the thought for a while, then shook her head.

"It wouldn't work" she said eventually. "She's not a doll like the others...she's something different"

"What did yours look like?"

"Like Mum, at first...then she got tall, and...pointy. And she slowly became less human...more metal-spider thing. Until it was at the point where she actually had more legs, like a spider...and made out of needles..."

"...Creepy" he mumbled, and she nodded.

"Well, you saw her hand anyway" she said with a shrug.

"Yeah...so, the name 'Unstitchers'...is a load of crap?"

"Basically" They looked up to see someone in a big white bunny suit, standing underneath the clock. 1:00. He waved at them. "Aww, c'mon Wybie" Her face lit up, and she ran and gave him a big hug around the middle. Wybie handed the camera to the woman helping the bunny, and she took their photo.

"Thanks" he said, taking it back. They huddled in close, and laughed at the expression on Wybie's face.

"Who's afraid of the big bad bunny?" she smirked.

"I'm not _scared_ of it...geez" he replied, pulling his camera out of her hands. Coraline looked up at the clock.

"We have a whole _hour_ to kill...and a bit of money left..." she said, checking her purse.

"Mkay...well, whaddya wanna do?" They looked around, and Coraline spied Myer, and grinned.

"Let's go in there" She was dragging him by the sleeve before he could reply.

Once they were inside, they wandered into the clothing section.

"Hey Wybie..." she grinned, and stood amongst the male mannequins that showed off the latest fashions, posing just like one of them. He laughed, and took a few photos of her in different mannequin poses. If only she was a little taller, then she might even pass for one of them, Wybie thought to himself.

"Your turn!" she cried, jumping off the step and pushing him towards the female ones. He hesitated, but stood between them, feeling self-conscious. Anyone might see them doing stupid stuff like this.

"You're not posing, Why-Were-You-Born" She told him, smiling. He paused in thought, then with a little sigh, posed. She took a few photos with a giggle. They hadn't just...hung out like this in a long time, doing wacky, pointless stuff. She kinda missed it...a little.

"Can I get down now?"

"Yup. What else you wanna do?"

"...I dunno...play a game?"

"Like what?" she asked, sitting down on the step in front of the male mannequins, and he sat down beside her while she checked how much money they still had. She was getting a little tired of carrying their costumes, and the snowglobe was a big one, so it was heavy as well. He shrugged.

"Hide and seek or something? I've played it before in a shopping centre" she suggested.

"I would, but...your dad said that we should stick together, and if I lost you, Jonesy...well...they'd kill me" he said, and a small smile tugged at her lips.

"Yeah, that's true..."

"Like seriously kill me...you'd think the tattoo woman got it easy in comparison..." he laughed, and stood up. Then he took the costumes, and helped her to her feet. A woman dragged a small child past them, and he was crying and screaming.

"I wanna see it! I wanna see the..._snake_" he yelled, trying to pull his hand from his mothers grasp.

"You already _saw_ them...and mummy has to do the shopping...I'm sorry" she smiled at Wybie and Coraline apologetically. They looked after the two curiously.

"Snake?" Wybie repeated, and the two half-ran outside, and peered over the balcony to the floor below. There was a crowd, and in the middle of them, a few men and a woman stood, overseeing.

"They have reptiles! C'mon!" Wybie dragged her by the hand down the escalator. She felt her face grow warm at the action, but didn't say anything, or let go until he did.

There were heaps of people, ranging in age from adventurous toddlers who would make one of those snakes a perfect snack, to terrified women in their forties, who freaked out at the sight of them. Coraline grinned as Wybie pulled her from pen to pen. They paused at one that had less of a crowd. The snake inside was only small, it's skin a bright green with darker green patterns.

"It's so pretty" Coraline said, leaning on the rail. It wasn't moving as much as the others, which was probably why there wasn't anyone pushing them out of the way for a look.

It stared at her with bright yellow eyes, little pink tongue darting in and out.

"I think it wants to eat you Jonesy" Wybie teased. He took a step to one side, but the snake didn't break the eye contact with Coraline, who stared right back.

"Mmm..." she replied vaguely. It shifted a little, moving towards her - not by much.

"...You're staring it down...it thinks you're a threat..." Wybie said, taking the camera from her hand. He took a few photos of 'The-snake-that-had-a-crush-on-and-probably-would-have-eaten-Jonesy'.

"Okay...wanna go see some of the others?" He frowned a little when she didn't answer. "...Jonesy?" He tugged on her sleeve.

"Huh?" she replied, her eyes meeting his. When she looked back at the snake, it was looking in another direction.

"You wanna go see some of the other snakes?"

"Oh, sure" She threw the green snake another look over her shoulder as they walked away. Again, the tongue darted out, tasting the air. She childishly poked out her tongue as well, then looked forward again, and concentrated on where she was going.

"How did we not notice this?" Wybie asked, and Coraline shrugged.

"Just unobservant, I guess" She looked up at the clock. "Wybie, it's quarter to two...reckon we should head back to the entrance?"

"Mkay...oh hey Jonesy, is that a rattlesnake?"

"Probably...but we've gotta go..." she smiled, dragging him away by the sleeve. He resisted for a moment, before following her out of the reptile show.

They saw the rental car waiting out the front for them, and the relieved look on Charlie's face when he saw them made Coraline giggle.

"Hi dad"  
"Oh, thank god you didn't die" he sighed. He looked at his daughter expectantly.

"What?"

"Do I get change? I see you've been on a little spending spree"

"Oh yeah" she stuck her hand in her purse and put twelve dollars in his outstretched hand. He looked horrified.

"Coraline, I gave you about $150...and you give me twelve dollars change?" he cried, and she smiled innocently.

"I'm sorry, Dad...there was just so much stuff, I mean, look at my new hat!" she grinned, pointing to it.

"Yes, I saw it."

"C'mon Dad, it's not like you're paying for anything else while we're here" she said, and he rolled his eyes and pulled out of the parking spot.

"That's not exactly the point, Coraline..."

**A/N; ****Well, hullo there! It's Knut this time, yes, me. Didja miss me?**

**I really hope you enjoy this little dose of fluffy. It was an awful lot of fun to write. ^~**

**Now, I'm asking a question this time. If you went through the door, and met **_**your**_** Other Mother, what kind of bug would she be? Me? Well, I'll tell you a secret... my Other Mother happens to be a funnel web. She's purty darn evil. But she's also a hell of a cook. :3**

**FUN FACT: You know the hat, that Coraline wears in the movie? The black one that has a suitcase all to itself? CANDY has a hat just like it! We use it for busking, because of the lovely red on the inside, and has made us many a pretty penny, although I'd like to think talent played a part. ANYWAY, that's why I decided to have Coraline buy a train drivers hat while shopping, because that's **_**my**_** hat. In fact, this story has lots of little tidbits from our actual lives. The hats, Bonnie's cat, Dexter, is based on my cat, also named Dexter, and Doug cat Bert is based on CANDY's old cat, by the same name. Both of us love The Phantom of the Opera, hence Wybie's Halloween costume, and the man in the bunny suit? Well, that's only the biggest in-joke known to mankind.**

**But...you know. Not known, coz...it's an in joke... :P**

**CANDY's turn.  
****Amaze us, Mama Bear. ^^  
****Reviews make the world go round~  
****Stay Shiny xx  
****Knut**


	6. Manslaughter

**Unstitchers**

**Two - **_"__**1.**__ (Law) The unlawful killing of a human being through action or inaction and without malice or premeditation, either express or implied._**  
**~Legal Definition: "Manslaughter."

The three of them ate dinner that night in one of the in-hotel restaurants. Coraline had been keen on room-service again, but Charlie had (in an uncharacteristic display of spontaneity) declared he couldn't stand another evening in that hotel room.

And so it was that Coraline had donned her 'for good' shiny red shoes, descended the stairs and was now looking suspiciously at a tiny lump of something pink in the middle of a huge white plate.  
"What is it?" she weakly asked her father, who sat to her left, crunching on something with a French name that looked rather like glorified bean sprouts.  
"It's salmon, honey. You like it, remember? You had a whole plateful on that one trip to the-"  
"It smells weird."  
"Well if you don't want it, I'll have it." he offered.  
"Sure." she pushed the plate across the table to his side, wrinkling her nose and resolving to fill up on bread sticks. Wybie sat to her right, dressed in a green shirt, which was unusual enough to warrant notice. He so often wore black, but... the green suited him. It brought out the olive in his eyes-

"Do I have something on my face?" she was jerked from her thoughts by his concerned voice. Tired after the long day of shopping and irritated that she'd been caught staring, she folded her arms.  
"Yep. Right in the middle there..." as his hand went up she smirked. "Oh wait... nope. It's just your nose. My mistake." Wybie rolled his eyes.  
"Oh, ha ha." he said sarcastically, going back to his mound of green pasta. (Didn't this place have any normal food?_)_

Soon bored of bread sticks, and anxious to get back to the hotel room (and maybe even a decent sleep, tonight) she looked around the restaurant. She spotted a couple of kids from the test and their parents littered around the tables. Not that many others- No one probably wanted to come to a hotel when it was full of 12 to 15 year olds. She recognised Wybie's long-haired friend with the baseball cap among them. He'd only just arrived and had his back turned to them as he ordered. Next to him stood a short, portly man she assumed was his father and at their feet sat a fat brown toad. The man was balding terribly, made even more obvious by his son's contrastingly full head of- _Wait._ _A toad? _

She frowned as her eyes flicked back to the creature on the floor. It was huge, and it was staring at her, with big, gorgeous golden eyes. She blinked, and it blinked. Utterly weirded out, and confused as to how it had gotten into the hotel in the first place she stood up in her seat, drawing both Charlie and Wybie's attention.  
"Hey!"

At her call, baseball-cap-kid's head whipped around to face her, and upon seeing them, his face split into a broad smile. He waved at her. "No there's a-" she made to point at the toad at his feet, but he was walking over to them; right past the toad. Not noticing it at all. Then it hopped away, through the door frame, leaving no trace of itself. Confused and feeling like a fool, Coraline sat back down to seethe in annoyance.  
"Jeff!" said Wybie, obviously delighted. He stood up and they did that hi-five-handshake thing that boys do.  
"S'goin on, Bee-man." _Bee-man? Seriously? _Surely it was too early for them to have stupid nick-names for each other. Then again, Wybie _had_ given her a stupid nickname the very day they had met... A nasty, festering feeling began to eat at the pit of her stomach. Who the hell was this guy, anyway? She'd known Wybie for _years! _And he'd never looked that happy to see _her._  
"Who's this?" Charlie asked, good-naturedly.  
"Oh, sorry. This is Jeff, we met him at the tests."  
"With a J not a G." Jeff cheerfully added. His catchphrase, Coraline guessed. She wanted to melt into the ground. No, actually, she just wanted 'Jeff with a J' to go away and leave them alone. But no. Charlie wanted to know ALL about _Idaho_.

"I'm um... I'm gonna go to the toilet." no one even noticed her as she left, which she fumed about a little as she walked out of the restaurant. And then she got mad at herself for even caring. So all in all, Coraline was in a rather awful mood when she stumbled across the lovely white cat that regally sat on the bottom stair of the big staircase.

She stopped walking and cocked her head to the side, wondering just how this hotel had come to have so many animals wandering around it without any of the staff being the wiser.  
"Hello you." she said, surprised out of her anger. The white cat looked up at her, blinking its big blue eyes. "You're Loki's cat, aren't you? You're Duchess." the cat gave a little meow, as if in reply.

She pattered gracefully over to Coraline then, and rubbed up against her legs, meowing again for attention.

"Well aren't you affectionate." Coraline giggled, kneeling and running a hand over the cat's back, which earned her a purr. "So what are you doing here, all on your own?" she mused, "Maybe I should find your boy, huh? He's probably wondering where you are..."

Duchess made no protest when Coraline picked her up, settling into the girl's arms as if it was the most normal thing in the world. She was much heavier than Coraline's Cat- who was mostly skin and bones himself. In fact, Coraline suspected that her considerable bulk was not _all_ poofy fur...

Coraline continued to talk softly to the cat as she carried her down the halls. "Where would he be, huh? Where do you think Loki is right now? I wonder if he's worried about you... You wouldn't happen to know anything about a toad hopping around here, would you?" the cat just blinked lazily at her.

Coraline made her way through the relatively quiet halls of the hotel, not entirely sure where to begin looking. She couldn't very well start knocking on doors, could she?  
"A little help?" she asked the animal in her arms, who just blinked at her again. "Not talking, are w-"

She was interrupted by something bursting out of the broom cupboard to her right. Something with wild, red hair that tripped over itself as it nearly stumbled into the opposite wall.  
"Bonnie?"  
"What? Oh. Hi Coraline." Bonnie was looking rather shifty, clutching in her arms two _'Wet Floor. Keep Off'_ signs.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Well um. Ha." Bonnie laughed nervously. "Just uh. Preparing for the operation, y'know? I was gonna wait 'til later to get these, but you know how Alice is..." Coraline laughed, as they started walking again, down the hall.  
"You mean a complete bitch?" she joked. Bonnie's eyes turned hard, and Coraline fell silent.  
"You know," the red-head said softly sounding hurt on her leader's behalf, "Youshouldn't make judgements about people you only just met. We didn't make them about _you_."  
"Uhuh." said Coraline, unconvinced. "so why did I suddenly get saddled with 'Windex' and Wybie with 'Quasimodo'? You can't pretend _that_ wasn't harsh." her own eyes darkened at the memory.  
"She let him _stay_ didn't she? Despite the fact that she had no idea who he was, if he was trustworthy and also the fact that having an extra person fucked up the _whole_ plan- the plan she's been planning for months and months?" Coraline fell silent as this message sunk in. Yes, they _had _let Wybie stay. Well, that and Bonnie swearing was one of the more unexpected things that had happened tonight. _Including_ the giant toad.

"You know, you ought to be a little more grateful." Bonnie continued, still incensed as if when Coraline had attacked Alice she'd been attacking Bonnie herself. "It's not as if every one of us hasn't gone through something as bad as you. Worse, even. You ever stop to consider that? And Alice didn't have to send you that invite. She usually doesn't, for half the people we find."

"Oh..." which would explain why there were so few Unstitchers, when everyone in the world was supposed to have a Beldam... Coraline was feeling sheepish. "Why'd she choose me, then?" _Worse, even. _How did it even _get _worse? In her mind's eye she saw Claire's eye patch, and shuddered.  
"What're you asking me for? _I_ don't know! Say, how come you got Duchess?" with her rant over, Bonnie was back to her usual scatterbrained self.  
"Oh... I found her on the stairs. I was gonna find Loki and give her back."  
"Oh! Well hey, give her to me, and I'll give her back. I'm pretty sure I know where his governess is gonna be hanging out-"  
"He has a _governess? _Why?"

"Well yeah..." Bonnie looked a little conflicted. "I... if I tell you, you gotta promise not to tell _anyone_." Bonnie appeared to be the kind of person you didn't entrust your secrets to. Still, didn't mean you couldn't hear hers.  
"I promise."  
"Well, um... you remember the part where she steals your parents? With the double-headed doll?" Coraline shivered at the memory.  
"I remember."  
"Loki never went back for his."

xXx

It was two minutes later and Coraline burst through the door of her hotel room, her promise completely forgotten.  
"Wybie you gotta hear thi-"  
"_WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?" _

"...what?"

He looked... crazy. His eyes were wide and furious, and his hair stood on end, even more so than it usually did. As if he'd been running his hands through it in frustration or worry. "Are you alright Wybie?"  
"You disappear off the map without a word of warning in a hotel we know for a _fact_ had a Beldam creeping around somewhere? How _alright_ do you _think_ I am?"  
"Oh." she saw now how that must have seemed. But she was too pleased that he'd actually been worried about her to feel bad. "Sorry?"  
"Sorry?" he repeated weakly. He went over to sit on his bed in defeat.  
"... was Dad mad too?"  
"No, he figured you'd just gone to the toilets."  
"Well that was the plan, to start with." she admitted. "But then I found Duchess wandering around and I thought I'd better give her back."  
"That's that kid... um"  
"Loki."  
"Yeah. Loki's cat, right?"  
"Yeah. Anyway, I ran into Bonnie, and we talked a little and she said she'd give Duchess back to Loki and then I came back."

"Right." he looked a little annoyed that he'd gotten worked up over something so small.

"Besides," she added, for no real reason but a childish desire to turn the blame onto him, "I didn't think you'd notice, not with _Jeff_ keeping you all entertained. How _is_ Idaho this time of year, anyhow?"

"What's wrong with you?" he'd noticed the change in her voice. He didn't know how she could get so mad so fast, especially after all the fun they had had earlier that day, in the mall. (Maybe it was one of those girl things he kept hearing about?)

"Nothing," she sniffed, folding her arms and turning towards the door, speaking to him over her shoulder. "Just not sure how much I appreciate you getting all cuddly with the first Hill-billy that gives you a nickname when we're in the middle of possibly the greatest crisis of our lives. You know, he could be working for _her-"  
_"_Now _who's being irrational!"he spluttered, rising to his feet. "You know, Coraline, I've met some nasty, judgemental people in my life but you just about take the cake." She recoiled, as if stung. "Jeff might not be a famous _monster slayer,_ but he's the nicest person I've met so far in the whole god damn hotel. _Including_ you. You know could learn a lot from him." his tone was bitter. She floundered in fury for a moment.  
"I'm the reason you're even _here!"_ she reminded him in indignant rage, with nothing left to cling to.

"Yeah, and I'm the reason _you're_ here." he replied, voice deadly soft. Her neck tingled as she remembered that night. The needles dragging her away, towards the door, and then the lights over the hill... Wybie, on his bike, come to save her. "You forget that a lot."

xXx

She waited until she had shut the door of her fathers room for the tears to leak out. She didn't want to be in the same room as Wybie any more. She didn't want him to see how deep he'd cut her. Charlie was sitting on his bed, watching the TV, but his head snapped up when he heard the click of the door. His eyes turned soft.

"Oh, sweetie." he sighed, and beckoned for her to join him on the bed.  
"We had a fight." she explained shortly, coming over to sit next to him on the bed, cross-legged.  
"I know, I heard." he said, winding an arm around her shoulders. She froze.  
"How much?"  
"The words were all muffled." he shrugged. "But it's about the competition right? You know you shouldn't let such a small thing get between your friendship."  
"Oh... um..." no point correcting him... "yeah. The competition." She rested her head in his lap, also fixing her gaze on a bottle-blonde woman who looked to be selling some sort of bizarre teeth-bleaching treatment. A tear or two trickled over the bridge of her nose, which she wiped off on the golden covers. "I just- it just feels like he can't hear me... like _I'm _the one who can't talk now..."  
"Yes, well, sometimes everybody does the wrong thing. You just gotta remember that we all do it for the right reasons and that's what matters..." Charlie offered mysteriously.

The fact that his advice had absolutely _nothing_ to do with her problem failed to bother Coraline, for some reason. After all, its wasn't advice she really needed to hear anyway, pointless or otherwise. Just the sound of her father's voice...  
"Like that time when you were only little- oh boy, you probably don't remember. There was this whole hive of bees, and we we stuck down this gully..."

That soft, low voice lulled Coraline to sleep that night. As she drifted off, she thought she saw something golden through the crack under the door. That night, she dreamt of toads, snakes and bees...

* * *

**A/N: OOOH THE PLOT THICKENS! Hi guys! CANDY here, sorry it's a little late! I would give you excuses, but you probably don't care, so instead; what was _your_ Halloween costume this year? Mine was the girl with the green ribbon around her neck, from that creepy fairytale (If you dont know it, I recommend you look it up :3). **

**FUN FACT: The bee story is from the book version of Coraline. There are a couple references to the book-verse that are littered through this fic. Speaking of which, whoever can tell us first where "we will be here when you fall" comes from gets a special mention in the next chapter. ^^**

**I will leave you now with this one little thought: TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY PEOPLE!  
**

**Later~ ;)**


	7. Jim Fiebig

**A/N; I'm honestly not sure if we've included one of these, but neither CANDY or myself own Coraline. I know, it is rather sad, isn't it?**

**_Unstitchers_**

**7. **_'Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice-cream fall from the cone.'_  
_~ Jim Fiebig_

"...Coraline..." She squeezed her eyes shut. Five more minutes...it always made such a difference. "Coraline, wake up"

"...fivemoreminnus..." she mumbled in reply.

"No, we're gonna be late for the tests, Jonesy, _c'mon_" She cracked open a big brown eye, and stared up at Wybie. He was all ready to go - she was surprised to find herself in her own bed.

"...Where's my dad?" she yawned, sitting up.

"He's gone already...he had a meeting with the publisher-guy early"

"When will he be back?"

"I dunno...later. After lunch, probably" Wybie looked rather panicked about being late. The expression on his face became even more comical when she fell back into the pillows and pulled her blankets back up to her chin.

"_Jonesy!_"

"What! I don't _want_ to go...none of the _other_ Unstitchers are going..._you _can go if you want, though" she mumbled, and he sighed.

"...I'm not leaving you all by yourself with this Beldam running loose in the hotel" he insisted, and she sat up. He tried not to smile a little at the birds nest that was her hair.

"Wybourne, I am not helpless...I can look after myself" she insisted, then rolled over and buried her head in her pillow. He watched her for a moment, before sighing and pulling off his sneakers, tossing them at the end of his bed before he vanished into the other room.

Coraline smiled a little to herself when she heard the tv turn on in the other room, then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

**~xXx~**

She was woken up maybe an hour later by a knock at the door. Fear gripped at her instantly when she thought that it was her father, back early, but relaxed when she heard Wybie calmly thanking whoever was there.

"Jonesy...?"

"Mmm?" His face split into a soft smile when he realised he hadn't woken her up.

"You want some breakfast?"

"Yes please" She replied, glad that he seemed to have forgotten their fight from the night before. Or if he hadn't, she was glad that he wasn't bringing it up. She slipped her feet into the complimentary slippers that were always beside her bed, then shuffled into the other room. Spread out on the small table, there were plates and plates of food.

"Wow..." Pancakes, french toast, eggs (scrambled, fried, boiled _and_ poached), fresh fruit, bacon, something unidentifiable that actually smelled pretty good, and something else that she wouldn't touch for a million dollars, because of the smell alone, not to mention the fact that it looked like a shrivelled and burned banana slug.

"Well...I went to order the food...and I thought that we could have a little fun" he said with a shrug. She sat down opposite him and started helping herself to a pancake and a poached egg.

Coraline guessed that - by the look on Wybie's face - he was thinking over something as he picked at some bacon. Their fight? Was he being so nice to show her that he'd forgiven her? Or had he not quite forgiven her, but just wanted to move past it? He wiped his mouth self-consciously, and she realised she'd been staring at him, trying to figure out his facial expression.

"...Jonesy, you gotta quit doing that..." he said, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Doing what?"

"The staring thing...it's creepy" he replied, and she shrugged, pouring herself some orange juice.

"I was just thinking...you just happened to be in my line of sight when I spaced out" He didn't look like he believed her, but was distracted by something rubbing on his ankles. He jumped a little, but sighed when he looked down and saw Cat. He put him on his lap, and piled some bacon onto a plate, along with the yucky-smelling stuff that made Coraline wrinkle her nose. Cat, however, didn't have any second thoughts about it, and tucked into his breakfast happily, with Wybie stroking his back while he ate.

"So, coz we're not doing the test-" Wybie paused for a moment, to swallow whatever it was that was in his mouth. "- what're we gonna do?"

"I dunno...wanna watch a movie?"  
"I looked at them before...they're all...not very good" She tilted her head.

"Oh, okay then..."

They picked at the plates until there was nearly nothing left. Wybie patted his stomach contentedly.

"That...was amazing" He grinned, and she giggled a little.

"...It really was" She agreed.

"So...now whaddya wanna do?" He asked, and she shrugged. He got up and looked around the room for something to do. Wybie gave another little smile, and pushed his bed closer to hers.

"...What're you doing?" Coraline raised an eyebrow. He just grinned, and tore the cushions off the couch, and set those up as well.

"I'm building a fort..."

"Why?" She asked with a little frown, standing up and he paused in thought.

"I...don't know..." he admitted, then proceeded to pull the cushions off the other royal blue couch, and began to make some walls for his fort. Coraline just stood there, with her arms crossed, watching as he expertly put the fort together.

"How often do you do this?" she asked, and he looked at her.

"Hm? Oh, when I was little, I used to make them all the time with my cousin. He was never any good at the _building_ part, but we had some fun" Wybie grinned, and she gave a little nod as if to say 'Okay...'

She watched him build it for a while longer before he declared that it was finished. She got down on all fours and tried to crawl through the front door, but he blocked the way.

"Oh no you don't"

"W-what?" she spluttered, crossing her arms. "Why not!"

"The sign" he said simply, and he pulled the 'door' closed. She noticed a bit of paper that she hadn't noticed before. Written on it, in Wybie's funny handwriting was 'No girls allowed'

"What! That's so not fair!" she cried, and he just grinned at her through a crack in the little fort.

"Sorry Jonesy...those are the rules" She waited for him to laugh, and tell her that he was kidding. When he didn't, she made a little noise in frustration.

"Well...fine. I'll make my own damn fort" she shot, jumping to her feet. Wybie laughed.

"Oh really?"

"Really. And it'll be ten times better than yours, and the best part is...no stupid _boys_ are allowed in" And with that, Coraline stormed off into the room where Charlie was staying.

"That should be interesting" Wybie grinned at Cat, who twitched his whiskers in agreement. Coraline pulled the gold cushions off of her fathers couch, and set them up with the chairs around the dining room table. She draped the heavy double doona over the top of them, and made a sign (which was _so_ much better than Wybie's sign) and pinned it to her makeshift door.

"Aha!" she cried when she'd finished. "I'm done. And it's so much better than yours" Wybie raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the doorframe.

"It doesn't look very sturdy..." he pointed out, and she just poked out her tongue and crawled inside. It was cool and dark.

"It's fine, Wybie. In fact, it's just too awesome. Go back to your little hut, kay?" she called through the 'door'.

"No really, Jonesy...it's not sturdy at all...look" with a little smirk, he moved one of the chairs slightly. The whole thing collapsed on top of her, making her scream in surprise, and outrage.

"_Wybourne_!" she hissed.

"Oh, heh. Sorry Jonesy" He moved away from the wreck before she jumped out of it and hit him.

Coraline managed to work her way out of the remains of her fort and stormed into the other room, where Wybie was hiding inside his.

"_Your _fort looks pretty crappy too, Wybie" she snapped, and ripped out one of the cushions. The doona sagged a little, but remained otherwise intact. Wybie laughed his infuriating laugh.

"Nice try"

"Get out, or I'll squash you" she warned, and he frowned just as she jumped on it. "Hahaha! Now who's got the crappy fort!"

"Aww, that's not funny" Wybie said, sticking his head out from under the doona as Coraline stretched out on what was once the roof of his fort.

"What's that-"

"OW- that's my _knee_, Coraline" The boy muttered when she elbowed something.  
"Oh, sorry..." She was stretched out on Wybie's legs, it looked like. It an attempt to make her get off him, Wybie hit her in the head with a pillow. She turned to look at him blankly.

"...You did _not_ just hit me..." she said, her eyes flashing with something that Wybie couldn't really identify, but it made him fear for his life anyway.

"Now Jonesy-" he was cut off as she brought another pillow around into his face. Then she got off the remains of the fort, and ran into the other room. He gripped his pillow tightly and followed her. The two of them began to smash each other with the pillows, laughing and shooting insults back and forth between them.

"You hit like a girl-"

"My grandmother's hit me harder than that-"

"Cat could put up more of a fight than you-"

"I keep forgetting you're so short, that's why I keep missing-"

Cat was sitting on the table, watching with an amused expression as he nibbled at a cold piece of bacon. All three of them froze when they heard a key go into the lock of the door, and turned to look.

A woman, with dark skin and dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail stepped in, and put the key back onto her pocket. She was wearing a simple black dress, with an apron, and was moving cleaning supplies into the room. She froze as well at the sight before her.

"...Uhh..." Coraline glanced at Wybie, who looked just as horrified at being caught.

"...What on _earth_ are you children doing?" The woman asked, her hands on her hips. Coraline, although feeling a little miffed at being called a _child_, answered softly.

"Um, we were just...a little bored...and I think...it got out of hand"

The cleaning lady looked around the room. Doona's on the floor, chairs tipped over, cushions pulled off of the couch, plates of half-eaten food everywhere. She tutted.

"Oh, my gosh, this is gonna take forever..." she murmured to herself.

"We really are sorry" Wybie offered, and she nodded, lips still pursed in a tight line.

"Sorry, are you? Well in that case, you can both clean it up. You-" she pointed at Wybie. "-start on this room, and your friend can get cracking on the next one" Wybie looked at Coraline, who didn't look like she was about to argue.

"Okay then..."

"Mmm...make sure you do it properly" the woman instructed. "I'll be inspecting them"

"Okay...my name is Wybie, and this is Coraline"

"Wybie and Caroline?"

"_Cor_aline" She corrected, and the woman raised an eyebrow.

"Coraline? Oh, that's different. Well, I'm Delilah...now get going, this room won't clean itself" She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture, and started to unravel the cord of the vacuum cleaner that she pulled from the little cupboard behind the door. Coraline and Wybie worked hard to help Delilah clean the room up. She told them stories about some of the things she'd uncovered while cleaning rooms at the hotel ("And I swear, _honest-to-God_, this kid had managed to sneak a _cat_ into the hotel without anyone noticing! Not even his parents! I was that surprised!" This comment made Coraline and Wybie exchange a glance...) and they told her about the tests and how boring they were, and about Oregon. The room was clean sooner than they thought.

"There...now was that so hard?" Del asked, wiping her hands on a little rag tied at her hip.

"Nope" Wybie said, sinking onto the couch. Coraline sat on the arm of the couch beside him.

"Heh. Now whaddya wanna do?" she asked her friend, and he shrugged. Del gave them a look, tilting her head a little.

"Well, make sure you keep this room clean. I don't want to have to make you clean it again, understood?"

"That's okay, we really don't want to clean it again either" Coraline said, and Wybie nodded in agreement. Del looked at the clock on the wall, and made a funny noise.

"Well, I have to be going..._I_ still have work to do"

Again, the two exchanged a glance.

"Do you mind...if we come along?" Coraline said, pulling on her sneakers.

"Um...if you feel you really need to?" Del said, raising an eyebrow. Wybie copied his friend, and they followed the cleaner out of the room. Coraline peeked into the room before she pulled the door shut behind them. Cat was sitting on the table, his head at an odd angle. She winked at him before the door closed. She missed it when he winked back.

Del led them down the hallway, and into the next room. It was empty, so they did a little bit of a tidy-up, making the beds, collecting some dirty dishes to be sent down to the kitchen, and a quick once-over with the vacuum. They helped Del clean the rest of the floor, and stood in front of the elevator when they were done.  
"Okay you two...I've got to go up a few levels now"

"How many?" Wybie asked, as she locked the room behind them.

"Third from the top...where the nicer rooms are" She replied with a little smile.

"Can we come?" Coraline asked, and Delilah thought about it.

"Will your parents mind?"

"My Dad? Nah, he'll be fine with it" Coraline waved a hand, and Delilah then herded them into the elavator.

When they were in front of the room (she only had to do one) Wybie felt his stomach growl, as Del pushed the door open.

"Woah" Wybie said, ducking into the room under Delilah's arm.

"I thought _our_ room was awesome..." Coraline said, looking around. It was almost twice as big, with two double beds, split by a wall, same as theirs. There was a kitchen table, and there was a handsome wooden door with a bronze plaque that read 'BATHROOM'. She wandered into the second room, so she could make the bed, and saw an odd painting. It was as though she was looking into a castle...and a very big, very beautiful castle at that. One that you would expect only the most beautiful of princesses to live in. She stepped a little closer, and jumped in fright when her reflection peered curiously out at her.

It was a mirror - not a painting. She touched it...the smooth glass was cold on her fingertips. Her reflection imitated her. It was a normal mirror, except it didn't reflect the room she was in. Coraline's mouth dropped a little when she saw someone walk through one of the doors in the castle. He was tall and thin, with a pointed face and dark hair. Even from the distance, Coraline could see a little goatee on his chin. She turned around to check that no one was behind her, but when she turned back to the mirror, the person had vanished. The castle was still there, though. She was captivated by it, and she ran her hands over the back of the mirror. As expected, there was nothing unusual about it.

"Coraline? Oh hey, that's so cool!" Wybie broke her train of thought, and she turned around to see him dart over to the mirror. He stood beside her.

"You see it too?"

"Course. It's the coolest mirror I've ever seen..." He pulled a face, and his reflection copied. Coraline's heart sunk when she turned around and the castle was gone. "It'd look good where that painting of the kid with the ice-cream is in your house. Anyway...aren't you gonna make the bed? C'mon, I'll help"

He tugged gently on her sleeve, dragging her away from the mirror. They made the bed in silence, listening to Delilah vacuum in the next room. When they were done, Wybie wandered over to the window and peered out, fascinated by the height of the room. And Coraline went back to the mirror. The castle wasn't there anymore, and she frowned a little, disappointed. Instead, she stared at her reflection. She blinked, and saw that her eyes were just bright gold spots. She blinked again, and they were buttons. She gave a soft little scream, and looked away, rubbing her eyes. Once again, her reflection was back to normal.

"Are you okay?" Wybie asked. He'd been watching her.

"I-I'm fine...Wybie, c'mere" He got to his feet, and stood beside her. "What do you see in the mirror"

"...Just you and me...why? What do you see in the mirror?" He asked. She gave him a look.

"...Just me and some dork" she replied, not harshly, before smiling and turning away. He stared at his own reflection for a while, frowning a little, then shrugged and followed her into the other room.

**~xXx~**

"Thanks for all the help guys" Delilah said to them both. Wybie gave her a little smile, and replied "That's okay" Coraline, however, was too lost in her thoughts to even hear. Could this have anything to do with the Beldam living in the hotel? Her own Beldam had never done anything like that...but this one was the _Queen._ She could probably do whatever the _hell_ she wanted. Should she tell Alice and the other Unstitchers?

"Coraline?" She snapped out of it, and looked up, just in time to stop herself tripping and falling down the elegant staircase.

"Woah...yeah, sorry...thanks" Wybie was looking at her curiously.

"You're a little spacey...you sure you're okay? Is it _her_?" he added to Delilah couldn't hear them. She was leading the way down the stairs. Coraline nodded.  
"I'll tell you bout it later"  
"Okay"

"You two coming?" Delilah asked, and they both nodded. They walked around the corner when Wybie's stomach growled again.

"Hey Del...coz we helped you out and all, do we get a reward, of sorts?" Coraline asked, totally joking. Del, however, thought on it for a moment.

"Is ice-cream okay?" She took them to a cute little shop with a smiley ice-cream on the front. A bell rang as they entered, and Wybie immediately got a little headache from the black and white checkered floor. Coraline spied a shock of red hair in a familar style sitting at one of the tables.

"Loki's here..." Wybie noted. Coraline realised that she hadn't been able to tell Wybie of her discovery from last night, because of their fight.

"Okay guys, whaddya want?" Del asked, pulling her wallet out of her pocket.

"Um, just vanilla please" Wybie said, and the pretty blonde behind the counter smiled a bright smile at them. The nametag attached to her dress read 'Calyn'. Wybie thought that was a rather strange name, but then again, his name was _Wybie_, and standing next to him was _Coraline, _and sitting a little way away was _Loki_. Still...ordinary names lead people to have ordinary expectations about a person...

"One scoop, or two?" Calyn asked, and he said that he only wanted one. She was nice enough to make that 'one scoop' a bit bigger than a normal single scoop.

"What about you, Coraline?"

"Umm...triple chocolate chip?"

"One scoop or two?" Calyn repeated with a bright smile. Coraline looked up at Del, who gave a little nod. "Two please"

"Sure" When both children had their ice-creams, they thanked Calyn, and Delilah, who had to get back to work.

"I'll see you two around, okay?"

"Yep. Bye!"  
"Bye Del!"

Wybie then looked around to see Loki, and the two locked eyes. Coraline felt herself being dragged over towards the redhead.  
"Hi Loki" Wybie said, sitting opposite him. Coraline scooted in beside him with a little smile.

"Mmm...vanilla, huh?" Loki said, pulling his own cone apart with his teeth.

"...Yeah. What'd you have?"

"...Honeycomb" Loki replied shortly. His eyes travelled over to Coraline, but he didn't say anything. The three sat in silence for a little while, before Loki leaned forward a little.

"..tell me about her..." he said softly, so no one else would hear him. "You got to her true form...same as Alice, right?"

"Um- yeah" Coraline replied, a little awkwardly. _How could you not go back for them?_

"So...how'd you do it?"

"I dunno...she just...got madder and madder at me when I wouldn't let her sew in the buttons" She told him softly. Wybie listened carefully as well, suspecting that Coraline might tell Loki something that she hadn't told him. He didn't like that she was so at ease with these strangers.

Loki's dark eyes remained fixed on hers, which she understood to be an unspoken request to continue her story.

"Well...yeah. She wouldn't let me go back to my real home...and I told her that she wasn't my real mother...that's when she started turning into a spider"

"...Cool" Loki said, in the same breathy voice she'd been using a moment ago. Coraline was especially paranoid about people hearing their conversation, so she'd leaned forward a little bit, and Loki was eagerly listening to her story, so he'd also leaned forward. Wybie's face was also closer than normal, because he couldn't hear properly. To anyone else, it just looked like three kids telling secrets.

"So...your Other Mother-"  
"Beldam" he corrected softly.

"Beldam...sorry...um, she was a...mosquito?" He gave a soft laugh.

"Yeah. Kinda...gross" He told her, and she nodded.

"Yeah...it really is"

"She had a really pointy nose..." he recalled, making her smile a little. "But yeah" He leaned back in his chair, and she gathered that that topic of conversation wasn't going to be brought up again. "So you skipped the tests?"

"Uhuh" Coraline grinned, looking at Wybie, who smiled back at her. They both had settled back into the squashy red seats, sitting normally again. "We trashed our room, and had to help the cleaner fix it all up" He chuckled, arms folded across his chest. She noticed that his black shirt had traces of white cat hair on it.

Coraline licked her ice-cream (which had slowly been dripping onto the table) and considered her encounter with the mirror. _Should I tell him? Or would he think I was crazy? _No. Loki wouldn't...he was just like her. They'd both been through the same thing, so they knew that nothing was impossible. And she wasn't crazy, imagining stuff in mirrors. It had actually happened. She was sure of it.

"Well...everyone else is probably getting out of the tests about now. So I'll be going..." Loki said, getting to his feet.

"In that case, we should go back too, yeah Jonesy?" Wybie said, and she nodded, finishing her ice-cream. The three of them walked into the hotel together and joined the mass of kids swarming out of the hall, chattering excitedly.

Coraline gave Loki a short wave as they parted in the crowd, and he gave a short nod.

"...He's so...strange" Wybie said to her as they headed towards their room.

"Yeah...he is a bit" She pulled the second key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Charlie wasn't back yet.

"Still hungry?" he asked, and she gave a short nod.

"A little"

"Kay...I'll get lunch then" he said, sitting down at the table and picking up the phone, dialling room service.

"Thankyou..." she said. Coraline went into the bathroom, and heard Wybie order them a bowl of hot chips. As she washed her hands, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The memory of the castle made her shiver. Wybie hadn't seen it...just like how no one had seen the toad at dinner the previous night. Or how no one else had noticed the snake's odd behaviour at the reptile show. No, Wybie had seen that, and had even gotten photo evidence of it. But still...

_Am I going crazy?_

**A/N;**

**Hello again! Tis me~ Knut.  
****How are we all? Good? Good.  
****This chapter was...annoying. :\ I don't really know why, but I messed around with it a lot, especially the mirror bit. And the bit with Loki...I mean...**

**Eh, it doesn't really matter. :3****Now; The special mention for guessing the song, where we got our tagline ('We will be here when you fall') goes to **_**Calyn**_**. Congrats. She got her cameo. Also, well done to everyone else who got it right, you just...weren't quick enough. Sawree. Maybe next time. ^^ Now, for todays question; What is your favorite flavour of ice-cream? Mine is Old English Toffee, and CANDY's is Green Apple.****FUN FACT; Do you know how long it took for me to come up with a fun fact? I'm gonna start writing them in advance from now on. Now...did you know...that on my wall -I'm looking at her right now- is the first drawing of the 'Queen-Mother-Beldam', as Alice put it? She's changed a lot, but she's surrounded by lots of little snippets of quotes and stuff that was the original planning. I'd write some out for you, but they're all spoilers. **_**Sawree.**_** Also, there's a drawing of the Unstitchers floating around...I think they're on CANDY's wall...but I can tell you that Claire is easily one of the cutest bug-eyed drawings I've ever seen. :3**

**So yes...there you have my chappie. If I don't write another before Christmas, then a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you. -hugs for all- Reviews are like Zydrate - blue and glowy and really really addictive. As in, you get a couple, and then every time you get another, you go higher and higher. ^^ **

**Stay Shiny xx  
****Knut**


	8. Marilyn Monroe

**A/N: So I'm back... finally. I feel bad. I do have to admit, I hit a wall. And then I found a frickin NUKE AND BLEW THE WALL INTO OBLIVION! I hope you enjoy the radioactive carnage~ *grins***

**Unstitchers**

**Eight- **"_If you're gonna be two-faced at least make one of them pretty_."

~ Marilyn Monroe

_You gotta __**promise**__ not to tell __**anyone**__... Loki never went __back__ for __**his**__... Yes, well, sometimes __**everybody**__ does the wrong thing. You just gotta remember... Jonesy, you gotta quit doing that... it's __**creepy**__... What's __**wrong**__ with you?... I'm the reason __**you're**__ here! … Oh __**boy**__, you probably don't remember. There was this whole hive of __**bees**__... We're gonna __**kill**__ the evil __**bitch**__... Nah...it'd be something __**brutal**__. You'd have to be __**really**__ clever...__** really clever**__... really clev-_

"Jonesy? You okay? You're all pale." Wybie was frowning at her in concern. She was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the carpet, as if in the process of deciding what she was going to do next.  
"Uh... yeah. I'm just gonna..." she gestured towards the bathroom with her thumb, and he nodded his understanding.  
"Right."

Once she'd pushed the door closed and taken a seat upon the closed toilet she tried to snap out of it and clear her mind. It was getting increasingly hard to do. The last couple days had been an information overload; an information overload that only served to raise more questions than it had answered, really. She was so lost.

Scowling and blinking hard to clear her mind, she picked up the nearest writing instrument- a stick of red lipstick she had bought for the Halloween Party at the end of the week. She stood up, and faced her reflection in the mirror with a set jaw and a determined stare.

Okay. Time to go over what she _knew._

Back in the ice-cream shop, she had tried so hard to convince herself that Loki had just been scared, like her. That was why he hadn't gone back. It wasn't because he was... but now the picture of his dark eyes she couldn't seem to shake from her mind. They weren't cold or heartless, he'd been friendly enough... but they weren't even _sad_. How could he not even be _sad?_ She shook her head to stop herself going around in circles.

The Beldam. She thought of the little signs, the little clues she had stumbled across in the last couple of days. The toad that no one else could see. The snake that saw _her_. The mirror... that god damned mirror...

She looked up with a jolt at the mirror she stood in front of now, heart in her throat all of a sudden, as she saw the one word she had written upon it. The one thing that she was sure of.

**EViL**

She felt tears of fear prick the back of her eyes. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go home _right now_ and forget all about this. Forget the Beldam, forget the stupid Unstitchers who weren't even that much _better-_

In the reflection the shower curtain behind her blew in the breeze from the window. Except there was no window. Coraline's blood froze in her veins.

She whirled around to face the curtain, but it just hung there, still and untouched since Delilah had been in to clean. It didn't move. The tears that had been welling up in her eyes spilled over.  
"Who's there?" her voice cracked.

She ripped the curtain back, to reveal... nothing. There was nothing there. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve she turned to face the mirror once again. But in the reflection the shower curtain was still drawn across, still blowing in the non existent breeze. Her hair blew in the breeze too, her hair which she knew wasn't moving. "Stop it!" she choked. "Just stop it!"

She burst out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom she and Wybie shared. He saw the tear tracks on her cheeks and his face fell.  
"What happened?" She couldn't answer. She couldn't breathe. "Coraline what's wrong?" Wybie insisted.

You see, there is a clever little trick that hotels often employ, to save them on decorating money. It makes the room appear larger, brighter and consequently more grand. The trick is this; where one would ordinarily hang a painting, one instead hangs a mirror.

They were fricking everywhere. Everywhere she looked. She stared into them, tensed for any sign of movement. There wasn't any wind. For a moment she thought it was over but then she saw it; a shadow that flashed past the doorway behind her. She whirled around to face another mirror and the same thing happened. And the same thing again and again, in every single mirror.

"No! No no no no _no!_" she screamed at them, sinking to her knees, her tears flowing freely now. "_I'm not scared of you!" _  
"Coraline!" Wybie cried, coming to her side. "I can help you if you just tell me what's _wrong_!"

She shut her eyes tightly, sobbing into Wybie's shoulder, her hands trembling. She willed it to stop, to all go away. The room was silent; there was only the sound of her and Wybie breathing. Slowly, ever so slowly, she lifted her face, glancing around herself as she wiped away the tears. When she looked back at Wybie he was staring into her eyes. "Are you alright?" he whispered.  
"I think I'm going crazy Wybie." she whispered back.  
"You're not crazy. You're just smarter than the rest of us." he gave her a little smile. "C'mon." he helped her to her feet. "I'll phone up for something to eat or- something and... and then you can tell me what happened? Right?" he didn't take his eyes off her. It was as if he was afraid she'd break down again if he did. Or she'd just disappear, without him watching. He'd blink and she'd be gone.  
"Right." she breathed, still shaky, trying to support herself.

He disappeared into the other room, leaving her alone with the mirrors. Slowly, ever so slowly she went to stand in front of the largest one, staring back at her dishevelled, shaken reflection.

All back to normal.

Until in red lipstick- her red lipstick- words began to appear in gorgeous copperplate. As if someone on the other side of the mirror were writing them.

_**Wake up, Coraline.**_

From the next room, Wybie heard the door slam. He bolted back, but it was too late. Coraline was already gone.

xXx

Coraline ran down the halls of the hotel, as far away from those horrible words on that horrible mirror. She tore down the stairs, two at a time, not paying attention to where she was going. There was no denying it now. No escape. It knew she was here. It was coming after _her_. That familiar panic gripped her now, the panic that had haunted her dreams for the past two years. _Thud._

"Jesus Christ, wouldja watch where you're going, ya retard?"

Coraline picked herself up off the ground, surprised to find a pair of small pale hands assisting her. She looked up to meet a pair of powder blue eyes hovering over a huge pink bubble. She flinched when it popped. "So where the hell were you going in such a big hurry?" the girl that she had crashed into asked her. "You're white as a sheet. Well..." the girl added to herself, thoughtfully, "white as a _white_ sheet anyhow. Summ'n chasing you, Windex?"

Alice looked up the stairs, the way Coraline had come, putting a hand in her hoodie, before flipping open what appeared to be a pocketknife.  
"You could say that." Coraline panted, her heart rate slowing a little. She looked at the knife. "I don't think you'll need that, though." Coraline never thought she would ever be so happy to see Alice in her life, but at this point in time, the face of the one girl who had slain fourteen Beldams was exactly what she needed to see. The bubble popped again.  
"If you say so." she slipped the knife back into her pocket, and starting off down the quiet hall. "Good thing though. Lots still ta do." _Pop_.  
"Like what?"  
"Can't say here." Alice said, jerking a thumb at a mirror that ran the length of the corridor and Coraline took a step closer to her. "But if you're at the car park tomorrow night, you might find out a thing or two, y'know what I'm saying?"  
"Got it." Coraline replied with a smile.

Another meeting. This meant they were getting somewhere; a prospect which seemed both exciting and concerning. "So um..." she noticed that in Alice's left hand was a brightly coloured pinwheel, which she held like someone holds a cell phone when they can't get a signal. "What exactly are _you _doing here? Is that a-"

"A pinwheel." Alice said, like it was the most normal thing in the world, turning to Coraline and holding the contraption in front of her face.  
"Um... why?"  
"For detecting _airflow, _moron_. _Airflow that shouldn't _be_ there." Coraline's eyes grew wide and her skin cold, as she saw the pinwheel was slowly spinning.  
"The... the windows are all closed." Coraline whispered, her face and Alice's close enough to touch.

"I _knew_ the idiot was smarter than she looked!" Alice cried in mock celebration, turning away and walking in the direction of downstairs. Coraline wasn't sure whether to take this as a compliment or not. All she knew was that it was a lot harder to be scared of something as little as _wind_ when Alice was around.

"Exactly!" the pigtailed girl declared, taking a couple steps down, talking to Coraline over her shoulder. "What we've been able to figure out so far is that the Other World inside this hotel acts as a sort of vaccum in reality, pulling the air from the real world into it. Its probably a lot more complicated than that, but-"  
"But it means you can find where the door is? By how hard the wind is blowing?" Coraline put the pieces together, hesitantly taking a step after Alice.  
"No shit, Sherlock." the blue eyed girl replied. "What do you think I'm doing with this stupid pinwheel?" her words were harsh as ever, but she had a grin on her face, and Coraline couldn't help but grin too.

A couple more steps down, Alice turned around to face Coraline, raising an eyebrow. "You coming, Windex?" Coraline blinked twice. Alice wanted _her?_  
"Oh... okay!" she skipped down the stairs, and Alice waited until she'd caught up to continue down, explaining as they went. It made Coraline quietly smile to realise that somehow, the roles were reversed now. _They_ were the ones plotting, scheming. The _Beldam_ was the one in the dark, the one that was going to be caught off-guard. It made it feel that much less scary. Even exciting.

And Alice seemed to actually like her! This didn't just surprise Coraline, but also secretly pleased her. She realised she _wanted_ Alice to like her. She wanted to _impress_ her.

She was beginning to understand Bonnie's and the others' devotion to the girl in purple sneakers. Once you got past all the insults and dismissiveness, it was hard not to like Alice, just a little.

Every now and then, as they walked along Alice would pause, holding the pinwheel up, higher in the air, chewing her bubble-gum in concentration.  
"What we are looking for..." Alice said slowly, half to herself, half to Coraline, "is some sort of doorway or passageway, but not big enough to fit an adult through-"

"It would be small, like an air vent or a trap door." Coraline nearly jumped a foot in the air at the new voice.  
"Loki!" she spluttered.

He was leaning against the doorframe at the other end of the hallway. "Hello ladies." he said with a little smirk. "Having any luck?"  
"Yeah, actually." Alice said, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one hip, staring him down. It didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. "Until some ass-hole," Alice continued, "barged right in and broke my concentration. Now I'm gonna have to find the trail all over again."  
"Well a dog like you shouldn't have any trouble sniffing it out." Loki shot right back, smirk fixed in place. Coraline would have been appalled had she been in Alice's place, but as it was, Alice seemed to actually _enjoy_ the verbal sparring, smile widening even as her eyes narrowed.  
"Oh, you _didn't_."  
"Bite me, pigtails." he sneered.

"A dumb waiter!" Coraline suddenly blurted, the idea striking her out of nowhere. After a moment of confused silence, Alice's head whipped around to face her.

"_What_ did you call me?" Coraline blinked twice, before she realised Alice had no idea what she had meant.  
"No! Oh, no no no. I mean this kinda elevator thing, except not for people, for trays of food and other things that the staff need to send from floor to floor. Here look, follow me!" she grabbed Alice's arm and led her along the hallways, Loki hot on their heels, until they had reached the little door in the wall that Coraline had stumbled across on her first day.

After throwing Coraline a sceptical glance, Alice slowly, ever so slowly approached the door and raised the pinwheel.

At first, it was still.

Then, it slowly started to spin, picking up more and more speed until it span so fast that one of the wings was ripped off, and flew a couple feet away from the door, before spiralling slowly to the ground.

For a long moment, the three of them just stood in silence.

"... _Dude._"

xXx

Coraline didn't get to sleep easily that night. Her mind was buzzing, but not with the things she had discovered with Alice, earlier in the evening. It wasn't buzzing with the strange things that had been happening to the mirrors, even though there was one hanging above her head and by all accounts, she should have been feeling queasy at the very least.

No, Coraline was thinking of after Alice had left, when she had walked through the door to find Wybie sitting on her bed, quietly looking out of the window, a lost expression on his face. When he heard her gently shut the door he turned to face her. The exhausted and relieved look in his eyes had made her falter and look at her shoes.

"Sorry." she had mumbled. She hadn't even noticed he'd got up until she'd felt his arms wrap around her thin waist. He buried his face in her shoulder as she, after one brief moment of startled confusion, hugged him back. They had stood like that for quite a while before Wybie said anything.  
"Next time you disappear like that, I am going to punch you in the face." he had murmured in her ear. She'd smiled a little smile.  
"I promise next time I'll-" she was cut off completely- forgot what she was going to say, when she felt him lightly kiss her once on the cheek. She just stood stock still for a moment in shock, and barely noticed when he pulled away and moved to his bed, climbing under the covers without even changing out of his clothes.

She had stood there frozen for a moment, hearing nothing but her heart pound in her ears. _What? _

And now she couldn't get it out of her mind as she tossed and turned under her covers. _Go to sleep... go to sleep..._ But her cheek tingled and her heart skipped when she thought about it. She knew it meant nothing. He was just relieved to see her okay, after she had run out on him like that. That was all. _Go to sleep already. It's not even important. Go to sleep. Go to sleep._

Eventually she did sink into a fitful sleep, falling in and out of dreams, in and out of consciousness. Her mind was still so busy, too busy to sleep. After a while though, she was finally managing to drift off properly; she could feel a dream coming...

"_Wake up, Coraline!_"

She very nearly screamed when a little hand clamped down on her mouth, and another on her shoulder shook her awake.

Her eyes flew open to meet not a pair of eyes this time, but one big grey eye and a surgical eye patch. "Claire?" Coraline said. Or tried to say; it came off as more of a "Cwuuhr?" from behind Claire's little hand. _How the hell did you get in?_

Claire, who it turned out was sitting on the side of Coraline's bed, dressed in her plain white nightgown. "Shhh." she said as she released Coraline, allowing the blue haired girl to sit up properly. "Quickly, put on your shoes." the white-blonde whispered, glancing at the still-sleeping Wybie. "It's an emergency." Those three little words had Coraline's heart in her throat.  
"What's happened? What's going on?" she whispered back, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, and going to the closet, slipping on her boots over her stripy bed-socks. "What about Wybie?"  
"Shhh!" Claire said urgently, looking around the room at the mirrors, which made Coraline's stomach sink in horror. "Um... No, leave him." the little girl whispered. "He'll be safer where he is Are you ready? ...good. Okay, follow me."

Lit by the little floor-lights that lined the hallways of the hotel, the two ran as fast as they could, without making too much noise. Coraline only blindly followed Claire, unable to determine where they were going in the dark. As they ran, she whispered questions at Claire. "What happened? Where are the others? Where are we going?" but she was only ever answered with a "Shhhh!" in varying degrees of urgency and panic.

At one point, Coraline lost her footing in the dark, and threw her arms out to catch herself, skinning her elbow. Claire, however had no time for this, finding Coraline's hand and tugging on it urgently. "Come _on!"_ until they were running once again.

Coraline completely lost her sense of direction as they ran, but when Claire pulled to a stop in front of a little door in the wall, she knew all too well where they were. "Claire? Why're we- What's going-"  
"Shhh!" From inside her nightdress, Claire pulled out a string necklace, which had a little gold key on the end. Coraline didn't examine it closely, but she had the feeling it was shaped like a button. Her blood ran cold.  
"Wait, we're actually going-"  
"Shhh!" The door swung open, and down, down through the wall of the hotel, sank a tunnel, glowing blue and soft to touch. The tears of fear were already beading in the corners of Coraline's eyes.

"Claire...?" if she hadn't have whispered, her voice would be shaking. Claire turned to Coraline, business-like all of a sudden.  
"Something went wrong." she said quietly and quickly. "_Very_ wrong, and the Boss needs your help."  
Coraline nodded, wondering what had happened to Alice, but too afraid to ask. "She's down there already- she's going to meet us at the bottom. Okay?" Coraline nodded; the urgency in Claire's tone suggested that now wasn't the time for questions. She gulped. She wasn't ready for this.  
"Good." said Claire. "I'll go first." Claire clambered into the tiny opening, as easy as if she had done it a thousand times, before letting go and disappearing down the chute. Coraline's hands shook as she went to follow suit. Wybie's words echoed in her ear. _"Next time you disappear like that, I am going to punch you in the face._.." She looked over her shoulder for a brief moment, in the direction she had come. A small black shape sat in the doorway, its blue eyes flashing at her in the dark. It yowled.

"Cat?" she whispered.

Then her hand slipped.

She was falling, falling down the chute, biting back a scream. The wind that rushed around her now was warm, and sweet smelling like caramelised sugar, or honey. She seemed to fall forever. Fall and fall until it didn't feel like falling any more; until it felt like she was going up. It was the oddest feeling, going up, but her theory was proven correct, when a beam of light appeared above her, getting closer and closer along that glowing blue tunnel.

As she finally reached it, she threw out her hands to stop herself, and managed to catch the lip of the opening, and drag herself through it, landing, exhausted from effort and terror, on the floor in a heap.

She stood up quickly, glancing around for any sign of danger, backing up to the wall as she straightened her clothes.  
They were in a kitchen. This confused Coraline a great deal at first, before she remembered that ordinarily a dumbwaiter would lead the the kitchen anyway. Of course, it was like no kitchen Coraline had ever seen...

The gold walls rose high, high above their heads, and the whole design seemed a lot more... palace-like? In fact, exactly like the palace she'd seen in the mirror... Each wall was lined with high, arched windows that threw golden light in strips across the dark blue floor. Coraline frowned, looking closer at it. It was wood panels... but they were dark blue... how strange... She looked up, head whipping around this way and that for any sign of the Beldam's proximity, but the kitchen appeared to be deserted, except for Claire and herself.

Coraline hesitantly detached herself from the wall, enough to begin to slowly move around the kitchen, examining the golden cooking utensils (wasn't gold too soft to use for these things?)... the wooden benches that seemed to be inlaid with gold themselves... the oven appeared to be on, and it smelled as if something was baking... something sweet and delicious... She distrusted the entire thing.

"Claire?" Coraline whispered, every muscle in her body still so tensed as to cause pain. "Where's Alice? What are we supposed to do?"

She turned away from the kitchen to face the white haired girl once again. Claire was sitting on the golden bench, looking a little sheepish, like a child that had been caught sneaking cookies from the cookie jar. "Claire?"

With an apologetic look, her hands went to her eye patch, slowly undoing the bandage. "Claire..." as Claire took the eye patch off, she looked down, and her hair fell in front of her face. Once she had wrapped the bandage around her hand however, she pushed the hair back, and looked Coraline dead in the eye.

"Oh god." Coraline stared right back into Claire's own eyes; One big and grey, and one a shiny black _button._

Suddenly a voice sweet as honey, a _woman's_ voice, came from the door to Coraline's back. "Why don't you take a seat, little Missy? You and I are gonna have a nice long _talk._"

**A/N: CANDY here. Sorry I'm so late. _Again. _Gosh you all must hate me. Hopefully these two chapters I have planned are a good enough compensation. I wont reveal much about the next chapter except this; it is the sole REASON this fic came into existence. =D**

**FUN FACT: The following is an actual transcript of a in-depth brainstorming session between KnutCase and myself, for your viewing enjoyment:**  
_**CANDY**: speaking of which  
**CANDY**: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?  
**CANDY:** DD:  
**Knut:** Umm...  
**Knut:** Where's the timeline?  
**CANDY**: your last chapter was as far as we got  
**CANDY**: :\  
**Knut:** Oh god  
**Knut:** You're kidding?  
**Knut**: We have NOTHING?  
**CANDY**: AHHHHHHH!__  
_

**Hopefully we are all now a little more enlightened as to how these chapters of Unstitchers end up the glorious things that they are. ****(Don't worry, we actually know what we're doing now =P )**. Anyway, that's all we have time for this evening, I can hear that 'Get Off the Stage' music they play at the Oscars when the speeches run too long, so I will be leaving you. Happy New year to all, and to all a good night!

**~CANDY xx**


	9. Neil Gaiman

**A/N: Oh boy. Here we go... **

**Unstitchers**

**Nine - **"_All your questions can be answered, if that is what you want. But once you learn your answers, you can never unlearn them_."  
~Neil Gaiman

The woman who stood before Coraline was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman in the world.

She looked like someone had taken a picture of Marilyn Monroe, one of Glinda the Good Witch and combined the two. She stood much taller than Coraline, in very high heels with a toe so pointed it was nigh lethal. She wore a frilly, daisy-patterned apron over her simple black dress, and from underneath hollowed-gold hair, two shiny black buttons were fixed on Coraline. Her ruby red lips were turned down in disapproval and her arms were crossed, fingers tapping impatiently against her upper arm.

Coraline stared.

"I haven't got all night, dear."

Coraline bolted for the little door.

"Oh _no you don't_." When Coraline felt the woman's iron grip on her right ear, she found herself rendered quite immobile. Paralysed even, in every muscle except her heart, which was beating furiously. "You've caused us all quite enough grief already. _Quite_." Coraline was dragged by her ear to a tall chair that had materialised in front of the main kitchen bench, and dumped unceremoniously into it. "Claire, be a dear and tie Coraline's hands please." The woman undid her black neck scarf in one smooth movement and handed it to Claire. "We can't have her running off in the middle of things."

Claire moved around to Coraline's back, tying her hands behind her back, more gentle than Coraline had really expected.  
"Sorry about this Coraline." Claire murmured quietly in her ear. "Its for your own g-"  
"Shut _up. _Shut _up_ you lying _bitch!" _Coraline hissed over her shoulder, tearing up in panic. _"_I _trusted you!" _Coraline tried to pull her hands out of their bonds, but found them unable to move.  
"It's better if you don't struggle."  
"_Shut up!"  
_"No, really. The chair's pretty high, you could fall over..."

Finished, Claire moved behind the kitchen bench where the Beldam stood, hands on her hips. She surveyed Coraline up and down, before clicking her tongue. "Now before we begin, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I am _not_ your 'Other Mother'." For the first time Coraline truly noticed that this woman in fact looked nothing _like_ her mother. Indeed, she looked like no one Coraline had ever seen.

Coraline had no time to puzzle over this, for the woman was already continuing, her expression steely and her voice icy. "Nor am I what you and your little friends call a 'beldam' and you will under no circumstances refer to me as such. Am I understood?"

Coraline could think of no answer but to nod. This action brought a sweet smile to the bel- to the _woman's _lips. "Lovely." she said, straightening her apron, and ducking behind the counter, opening the oven.

She kept speaking from her position down there. "Tonight for all intents and purposes, you may call me Eve."  
"That's a pretty name, Mama." said Claire, earning her a hateful stare from their blue-haired captive. Eve, on the other hand, seemed tickled.  
"Well thank you, sweetie." She straightened up, a tray of freshly baked muffins in her hand. Muffins of all sorts, it seemed. Blueberry, chocolate, chocolate-chip, raspberry, cinnamon, apple...

The smell made Coraline's mouth water- she realised she'd never actually had dinner- and Eve noticed the direction of her gaze. "Oh no." she said with a little smirk, shaking her head and poking a golden skewer into one of the muffins to see if it was thoroughly cooked. "They're not for _you_." Coraline's wrists were hurting, she was hungry, tired, _scared,_ and she was getting rather fed up with the stalling.

"Fine. Whatever." she snapped, leaning back in the chair with a sour look on her face. "So if I'm not one of your 'children', why have you _kidnapped_ me?" Eve sighed and leant her elbows on the bench, so that Coraline's eyes and her own were level. She gave her a long look, like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. Though, she might have been thinking anything, with those button eyes. She eventually spoke.

"You're a smart girl, Coraline." she pushed a lock of Coraline's blue hair out of her eyes. Coraline shivered. "By now, you've probably figured out that I'm aware of every little scheme you and your Unstitchers have been cooking up while you believed my back was turned, and I must say, I'm rather _disappointed_ in you, Coraline." a cold sweat broke out on Coraline's forehead. "And before you ask, no, Claire is not a child I _lured_ into my realm and whose eyes I stole." the notion seemed to amuse her. "Claire, if you would, darling..."

Coraline turned to Claire, whose hand had gone to her real eye. Or at least, the eye that Coraline had _thought_ it was real. She reached right in and pulled it out. It was glass. From her empty eye socket which Coraline cringed to see, a little bit of sawdust began to trickle. At the look of horror on Coraline's face she gave a little smile. "It's alright, it doesn't hurt..." she softly reassured the blue haired girl.  
"That's enough Claire. I re-stuffed you only last Thursday." Eve said shortly.  
"Yes, Mother." Claire put the eye back in and blinked a couple times, giving Coraline a bright smile. "See? Good as new." Coraline felt she might be sick. Eve smiled.  
"Alright sweetheart, you run along. There's a little boy on the third floor who's nearly finished slaying his dragon, and he's going to need a damsel to save." A big smile spread across Claire's lips, and she scurried up to Eve, quickly kissed her on the cheek and darted out of the room.

Coraline frowned in confusion. What did that mean? Was it one of the children she was stealing, by using Claire? Once Claire was gone, Eve turned back to Coraline, fixing her with a look that made it impossible to tell what the woman was thinking. After a long, tense silence, she eventually spoke, voice low and insidious.

"Coraline I want you to think back to when you were eleven. There was something you 'Other Mother' said to you, something very important. Can you remember what it was?" she cocked her head, eyes never leaving Coraline, never blinking. Coraline bravely stared back, though her hands were shaking.  
"She said a lot of things." she eventually replied softly. Eve shook her head, unsatisfied with the answer.  
"Yes but there was one thing in particular, when you first met. You told her that you 'didn't know you had an 'other mother'. Can you remember what she said, Coraline dear?" Coraline _did_ remember.  
"She …said that everybody did. Everybody has an other mother." she said through gritted teeth.

"Doesn't that seem strange to you at all?" Eve purred, leaning across the bench even further, "That if _every child_ had an other mother like yours living somewhere in their house, there weren't more cases like yours?" this _had_ bothered Coraline in the past. She frowned, still so distrusting of the woman- the _creature_ across the counter.  
"Well maybe there were, maybe they just-"  
"Just what? _Forgot?_ They _forgot_ about the crazy woman that tried to sew buttons into their eyes? Be _reasonable_ Coraline." She stood up, and began to pace around the kitchen. Coraline scowled at her condescending tone.

"No," Eve continued airily, "the supposition that every child has an 'other mother' is, in fact, a fabrication, I am obliged to inform you, dear. It would be more _correct_ to say, that every _house_ over a certain _age_ has one." Coraline frowned. That actually made more sense... It explained why she only met the other mother _after_ she'd moved into the Pink Palace, and why there were so few Unstitchers... They must all live in hundred year old houses too... Coraline was prevented from musing further on the subject, as Eve continued to speak.

"Houses aren't born one hundred years old either, I might add," she turned to Coraline with a hard look, "That is to say, there is a fixed number of 'other mothers' in the world, and each is irreplaceable. So you can understand how _displeased _ it makes me when one of us is _murdered." _

Coraline's heart was in her throat, constricting her breathing. Eve knew everything. She knew what she and the Unstitchers had been planning; Claire had been her spy all along.  
"Are..." it was hard to keep her voice from shaking. "Are you g-going to kill me?" At the question, Eve looked suddenly surprised, and more than a little amused.  
"Well," she chuckled, "Not if you promise to _behave..._"

"...Why are you telling me this?" Coraline demanded, sounding braver than she felt. All these conflicting messages were really getting to her. She didn't understand a thing, and she was _scared_. What did Eve _want_ from her? "Don't you have children to go and steal?"

Eve's eyes flashed, and Coraline realised her mistake. She held her breath, as Eve leaned in closer. "I do not _steal_ children." she snapped. "None of us do, and I want that fact to be perfectly clear before we progress any further tonight."

"...What are you _talking about!_" Coraline exploded. She didn't believe her; this evil creature designed to twist people's thoughts and manipulate them. She _couldn't_ believe her. Of course they stole children! That was their _whole point!_ Coraline had seen it for herself! Seen it with her own eyes!

Eve shook her head in a long-suffering way. "Oh Coraline. Coraline, Coraline..." she moved to Coraline's side of the bench and leant back against it. "I want this dreadful night to end as much as you do, darling." she cooed, using her forefinger to lift Coraline's chin, making the girl look at her. "But if we're going to get anywhere, you're going to have to _trust_ _me_."

Trust a beldam?

Coraline scowled at the woman, mind ticking over everything that had happened so far. It really did seem like she only wanted to talk, and yet Coraline knew better. She wanted Coraline to let her guard down. What for, Coraline didn't know, and she didn't really want to. But nor could she refuse- there was no telling what the beldam would do if she did_._

"Alright." Coraline eventually replied slowly. Carefully. "I'll play your little game."

**xXx**

_**"Hey Wybie. Wybie. Wybie wake up!"  
"Hn?" Wybie rolls over in his bed, rubbing the grit out of his eyes. He nearly jumps a foot in the air at the face that hovers above him.  
"Bonnie?" he splutters, sitting up.  
"Quick, put your shoes on." she whispers, urgently. "It's an **_**emergency." **

**xXx**

A smile split the beldam's face.

"That's what I love to hear." she sang, and pointed the skewer at Coraline. Coraline flinched, but was surprised to feel the scarf binding her hands slip out of its knots and gently fall to the floor. Coraline rubbed her wrists, watching the beldam- who was slipping the skewer into her apron pocket- warily. "Come along." the woman said, picking up the tray of muffins. "Spit spot. I have things I need to do- not everything is about _you_ you know. We can talk on the way."

Eve walked out of the kitchen with the tray on her hip, not even glancing back once; just expecting Coraline to follow her. Which she did, slowly and cautiously, her arms folded across her chest. Eve's heels clicked on the wooden floor as she powered along the hallway. "Keep up now!" she called over her shoulder, and Coraline half-ran a couple steps to catch up with her. "Now Coraline, I want you to remember back to when you were eleven."  
"But wh"  
"Don't argue sweetheart, just do it. I don't have the time." Coraline shut her mouth with a scowl, but her curiosity kept her silent. "Remember how you first travelled between her world and your own?" Coraline strained her memory. "You would go to sleep in the other bed, and wake up in your own. It would seem as if it was all a dream." When Eve said the words, the memories flooded back.  
"Alright, I remember... and?"  
"Well to be perfectly pedantic, Coraline dear, it _was."_ Coraline frowned. What was she trying to say?  
"But it seemed real to m-"  
"Hush!"

Eve had stopped by one of the golden doors and had held up a hand for silence. Coraline could hear faint crying from beyond the door. "Oh dear." Eve said, "Here's another one. Be a dear and hold this, would you?" she shoved the tray into Coraline's hands, opening the door a crack to peer into the room beyond. She turned to Coraline then, a look of concentration on her face. "Rose." she said, half to herself. "Rose Taylor."  
"What?" Coraline was utterly confused.  
"Freckled. Wanted a doll house for her birthday..." a smile lit up her face, "chocolate chip is her favourite." With that, Eve took the skewer out of her pocket, and undid her apron, thrusting that too, into Coraline's hands. "One moment."

She tapped the skewer a couple times against her black dress, before grabbing the bottom and pulling it over her head. From underneath burst a poofy violet confection that could in no way have fitted underneath the plain black dress that now lay crumpled on the floor. She tapped her head once with the skewer and a exquisite golden tiara materialised on the top of her golden hair, while the skewer itself transformed into something that was plainly a magic wand.

Coraline gaped. "_What?"_

Eve selected a muffin from the tray Coraline was holding- a chocolate-chip one- and then... simply vanished. Coraline was left gaping, still so utterly confused, when a golden light radiated from the crack in the door. Coraline shuffled in closer, trying to see into the room beyond. A little girl was huddled in the middle of the room, looking up through tear-filled eyes at a woman who floated in the air above her, suspended by wings that seemed to be made of paper thin glass. Gold light radiated from her body, and in her hand she held a muffin. With a couple more flits of her wings she landed softly on her feet, before kneeling in front of the girl.  
"What's wrong my darling?"  
"I- I-" the girl sobbed. "Th- they won't let me go to the _ball_."

And suddenly it dawned on Coraline.

_You've got to be kidding me._

Coraline leant against the hallway wall in mild shock, until Eve finally reappeared in a flash of gold. She took one look at Coraline's face as she straightened her tiara. "I hope you didn't drop those muffins. I worked very hard on them you kn-"  
"You're trying to tell m-"  
"Shhh." Eve laid a finger on Coraline's lips and with a affectionate little smile, pushed her hair behind her ear, hand coming to rest on Coraline's shoulder.  
"There are many many names for what I am, for what _your_ other mother is." Eve said, nodding. "And _yes_, in this _particular_ culture, the most persistent label _is_ Fairy Godmother."

"Fairy... Fairy Godmother." Coraline repeated weakly, half-laughing. She felt like she might faint. She couldn't accept it. She just couldn't, and yet... "So you're trying to tell me you're... that MY other mother was... that..."  
"Whatever you like to call it. Guardians of the Children, the Granters of Wishes... only ever in _dreams_ of course, that's a necessary stipulation. If we went around actually _giving _children whatever they wanted we'd have a right mess on our hands, as I'm sure you're aware. Most are tied to a house and as a result only have one or two children to take care of. Me on the other hand, well I can have hundreds coming through in a single night, so you can understand why I'm so terribly busy- Coraline dear, are you alright? You've gone quite pale."  
"I think I'm gonna faint..."

Eve frowned, putting a hand on Coraline's forehead in a very motherly fashion. Having been so distrusting of her all night, Coraline didn't quite know what to make of it.

"Low blood sugar I'll wager." she muttered, "Did you skip dinner? How positively awful. Here, have a muffin." she handed Coraline a blueberry muffin- Coraline's favourite- before starting off down the hall again, still looking like a Disney cartoon. "You'll feel better in no time... Well are you coming?"

Coraline shuffled off after Eve, devouring the muffin, realising just how hungry she had been. Just as Eve had predicted, her mind was already clearing, her muscles gaining a new energy. She began to doubt again.  
It just seemed too... too perfect to be true, like the world of Coraline's own 'Other Mother' those years ago...  
"How do I know I can trust you? What proof is there that this isn't all just a lie?" _  
_"You can check the missing persons records for this part of Chicago if you really feel the need, but you won't find what you're looking for. As I said before; _I don't steal children. _None of us do._" _

Coraline stopped walking in the middle of the corridor, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.  
"Okay fine. But if you guys are sposed to be, like, the 'Guardians of Kids' or the 'Granters of Wishes' or whatever... why didn't mine? Why was she trying to _kill_ me, huh?"

Eve turned around to face Coraline, button's flashing in the golden light. "Oh but Coraline," she said, an edge to her voice that sent a shiver up Coraline's spine. "You're forgetting that she _did_, at least at first. She gave you _exactly_ what you wished for. Better parents, a better house, a better garden, better neighbours, better _food... _You really were an _unsatisfied_ little thing, weren't you..." Coraline didn't like the way Eve was looking at her. Like she was something to eat... It didn't help that every word Eve said was _true_. But Coraline wasn't ready to give in yet.

"Okay then. Assuming that that's all true. She _still_ tried to sew buttons in my eyes. She _still_ took away my parents." Coraline hissed.

Eve sighed and her face turned sad. "Yes well Mary was a rare thing among Fairy Godmothers..." she said quietly, looking through one of the arched windows, as if her thoughts were far away.

"What do you mean?" Coraline shot, the sudden change in Eve's demeanour unsettling her. _Mary?_ She'd never thought of the Other Mother as having a name. She didn't know exactly why this bothered her so much. Eve fixed Coraline with a long, thoughtful look.  
"She decided that instead of giving you what you _wanted..._ she'd give you what you _needed._"

**xXx**

_**Wybie is scared.**_ _**"Where are we going? What's going on? Is Coraline-"  
"Shh!" Bonnie silences him, dragging him along by the hand. "You'll find out when we get there. Just shut up and move your butt!"  
**_

**xXx**

"What do you mean, 'what I needed'?" Coraline demanded angrily. Eve gave Coraline a hard, unforgiving look, folding her arms.

"I _mean_," she snapped, her voice cold, "a _wake up call_, and a damn loud one, I might add. In all truth, Coraline, before poor Mary worked her magic with you, never had I _seen_ a child who was so attention seeking," _I almost DIED yesterday Mom... "_So selfish, so arrogant," _I'm WAY too old for dolls _"so ungrateful,"_ Looks like SLIME to me_ "throwing around emotional blackmail" _My OTHER MOTHER would get them for me..._ "and insults" _ JERK WAD! _"as if neither had consequences." Coraline's fists were shaking.

"To be perfectly frank, darling, you were a brat." _YOU SELFISH BRAT!_ "And _still,_ your Other Mother _loved_ you." _Even the proudest spirit can be broken... with love..."_So much that she gave everything. She let you destroy her world, imprison her in the wreckage- she gave her _hand_ to teach you a lesson you would never forget." _You may come out, when you've learned to be a loving daughter. _"and it just _breaks my heart_ that you already have."

"And the other Unstitchers? They were brats too? The same thing happened to _them_!"

"You really need me to tell you?" Eve dead panned, raising an eyebrow. "I must say though, _they _make even _you_ look like a saint."

Coraline was on the verge of tears now. No. Eve had to be lying, that was it. She had to be. was some trick. But to what point and purpose? There was none, and yet Coraline couldn't come to grips with it. With the truth that rang out in every one of Eve's barbed words.

Coraline bit back the tears, letting her anger fuel her. "What about the ghost children that she was keeping prisoner? What about Wybie's great aunt, huh?"

"She created them too"  
"No. They were real."  
"They were as much dolls as my Claire is. As your other father was."  
"No!"  
"Yes, sweetheart. She created _everything_ in that world to ensure you learnt your lesson. _Including_ the ghost children. They never existed. She made them up, to scare you."  
_"You're lying!"_ Coraline accused her, voice cracking.  
"I'm not, darling. Your cat said it himself; She wanted something to love that wasn't _her_." Eve turned to look at a point in the room over Coraline's shoulder. "Didn't you, Cat?"

Coraline whipped around. In the doorway behind her sat the small dark-furred creature, blue eyes blinking sadly up at her. "I did." he said.  
"Cat, _no_" Coraline moaned. Cat wouldn't lie to her. But this _couldn't _be true. The tears were really welling up now. From behind Coraline, Eve kept speaking.

"Didn't you ever wonder that if your other father and the other Wybie _were_, in fact, creations of the other mother, why they were helping you?"  
Coraline was shaking her head in pure denial. "Cat?" she choked through the tears, kneeling down. "Cat, you were there, tell her it's not true. She's lying, isn't she?" Cat looked at his front paws and sighed.  
"She isn't." he said. "Mary asked me to play along and... well, I did..." he looked away, as if he was trying to hide his face. "I... miss her." Tears started to trickle out as Coraline shook her head. It couldn't be right. Because if it was right, then it was_ all_ Coraline's fault. She wiped at them furiously with her sleeve. Eve came over and knelt down next to Coraline, her poofy purple skirt fanning out on the floor. She rested a gentle hand on Coraline's shoulder to make sure she was alright. Coraline shook it off, turning her face away.

"... You're not in trouble, darling." Eve said softly wrapping her arms around Coraline and kissing the top of her head, "we just need you to _understand_."

Coraline shrugged out of Eve's arms stubbornly, as if trying to prove she was still mad. She took a deep breath and fixing cat with a look. She still had a million questions that needed answering.  
"You said the other mother hated cats." she accused.  
"I said a lot of things about her." Cat said. The ashamed look in his eyes only made Coraline feel that much worse.

"Cats are actually rather beloved of the Fairy Godmothers. They live in dreams, like us. Its nice to have someone to talk to that isn't a child, sometimes." Eve smiled at Cat and he dipped his head low in acknowledgement. It took Coraline a moment to remember that Eve wasn't any other mother- that she was the _Queen._ Sitting next to her now, Coraline felt so small and powerless. And why? Why did Eve want her?

She didn't get the chance to ask, however, because Eve was already powering off down the hallway, heels clicking on the blue wooden floor. Coraline scooped Cat up in her arms and shuffled off after her. She noticed he'd put on some weight since she'd last picked him up, which shocked her. Usually he was as light- and as thin- as a feather.  
"You've been eating well..." she murmured.  
"No one goes hungry in this place." he replied with a flick of his ear.

Eventually they reached a pair of huge, arched double doors, which Eve pulled open to reveal a gorgeous room that looked like it belonged in a church more than a hotel. Romanesque columns soared to the ceiling and high arched windows lined the walls.

Coraline didn't notice. She was rather distracted by the bloody great _dragon_ that lay on the floor, with a sword stuck in it's belly. While Coraline was more inclined to cower against the wall in utter shock and fear, Eve walked right up to it.

It cocked a golden button-eye open as she approached it. Coraline nearly jumped a foot in the air.

"How did it go, darling?" Eve asked the dragon, inspecting the wound. It lifted it's head and surveyed them all, Eve, Coraline, the Cat.  
"Rather well." it replied in the kind of British accent reminiscent of Bond villains. "Good aim, this one. Got me right in the heart there." it gestured to the sword in it's chest. Coraline's head spun. Dragon. She thought she might fall over. _DRAGON?_  
"Well done indeed." Eve said proudly. "Hold still." resting one high-heel against it's green belly for leverage, Eve took the sword with both hands and tugged it out of the dragon's chest. The resulting hole began to trickle out sawdust.

When it rolled onto it's back to stem the flow, it's upside-down nose ended up a foot from Coraline's face. The golden buttons glinted at her. "Oh, hello there! The girl from the shopping mall, am I correct?" it did the dragon equivalent of a grin.  
"What?" Coraline took a step away. "How did- wait... you were the snake, weren't you!" she said, pointing at him. It made sense; the golden eyes, that exact shade of green... "the snake that was behaving all weird! It was you!"  
"Coraline," said Eve, as she pulled a needle out of her hair and began to stitch up the wound in the dragon's belly, "this is my son Cain. Cain, this is our new friend Coraline." she finished her stitching impossibly fast, cutting the thread with a flourish and standing back to admire her handiwork.

As the dragon stood up there was a flash of golden light and he was suddenly transformed into a man. A thin, sharp-featured man with slicked back hair and a goatee. The man Coraline had seen in the mirror! He took her hand and dipped into a low bow, kissing it. "Enchanted." he said.  
"It's, uh... nice to meet you." she threw a helpless look in the other two's direction, and Eve smiled.

"Yes, I created dear Cain and his brother like your other mother created the other people of your world." she straightened Cain's emerald green waistcoat for him, smoothing the collar. "He often plays the villain in the dreams here."  
"So every child in here is dreaming this?" Coraline clarified. It was a little confusing. She'd been awake when... "am _I_ dreaming?" she asked. Eve smiled.  
"More or less..."

"Well hello, brother!" the Adonis who was walking toward them from the opposite end of the room looked nothing like the goatee'd man to Coraline's right, except for perhaps his golden button-eyes. His shoulders were broad, his muscles sculpted, his hair luscious and blonde... Coraline thought she might fall in love with him right then and there. "Just had the fortune of being kissed by a princes! It really is refreshing to not have any warts- I say..." he noticed Coraline and the Cat. "What may I ask is the occasion of this congregation?"  
"Hello, toad." replied Cain sourly.

As soon as the blond was in arms-distance the the thinner man pushed him over. As he hit the floor- on his bottom, none the less- _his_ form changed too in another golden flash of light. He ended up a rather short, fat man with curly red hair and a red beard. He scowled at Cain who stood smirking above him. "You really couldn't help yourself, could you."  
"Not really."

"Coraline, this is my _other_ son, Abel."  
"It's nice to meet you." said Coraline politely. Toad. This must be the toad she had seen in the restaurant. Everything was slowly becoming clear.  
"Yes, yes." the fat man said, a little grumpily. "Charmed, I'm sure."

"Well." said Eve, smoothing her violet dress with the palms of her hands and turning to Coraline with a little smile. "Now you've met my family, excepting perhaps Gray, but he's off keeping Claire company." Coraline remembered the grey cat from the carpark, and nodded. "I've had tea prepared, so why don't we continue our little talk there?"

Eve pulled her skewer-turned-magic-wand seemingly out of thin air and waved it once. The room around them began to dissolve, breaking down and flying upwards in geometrical patterns. Coraline recognised this as the way _her_ other mother's world had disappeared. If Eve could do it with a wave of her magic wand, maybe Coraline's other mother had done it on purpose too... It was as if she was looking at everything from a whole new angle now; her world had been turned upside-down.

She blinked and they were in a little room with a circular table, surrounded by plush arm-chairs and pouffes. The table was set with several different tea pots, all steaming, and a hundred different varieties of cakes and biscuits. Coraline sat in an armchair covered in a purple quilt, with cat curled up on her lap. Eve sat opposite her, in the high backed black armchair, and Cain and Abel sat on either side of her. It appeared they couldn't be put next to each other without some sort of incident arising.

"Help yourself, dear." said Eve as she spread honey on a crumpet. A question that had been on Coraline's mind for a while now finally found a voice as she slowly took a cookie from a beautiful embossed plate.  
"So... if I'm such a- a brat..." her face felt a little hot as the memory of Eve's tirade was brought to the surface. It wasn't that easy to forget. Suddenly she felt a little uncomfortable where she was sitting. "Why did you choose me? To explain all this to? What about the other Un- the other kids?"

"My darling..." Eve sighed, shaking her head as she lowered her tea cup. "You don't understand. These 'Unstitchers', your friends..."  
"Insufferable." Cain sniffed over his cup of tea.  
"Incorrigable." agreed Abel, licking whipped cream straight off of a spoon. Some of it stuck to his beard. Eve silenced them with a look, and continued.

"They no longer dream as other children do. Their dreams are full of only revenge and hate." a shiver went up Coraline's spine. "Their poor Godmothers tried to teach them a lesson as well, but... They aren't children any more now than their cats are still cats..." the last part confused Coraline.  
"What do you mean? What's wrong with the cats?" Coraline looked down at Cat, who shifted a little in her lap. His voice had an element of disgust to it when he explained.  
"They do not walk in dreams any more. They forgot what it means to be a cat."  
"So they... they weren't in on it too? With the other mothers?" Eve crossed her legs, folding her hands in her lap.  
"No. Unlike your Cat, they belonged to their owners, not the house. While they did assist their children, it was not at the wishes of the Godmother in question. It was really just a coincidence that each child had a cat at all." this thought amused Coraline a little bit. The more she thought about it, the more and more it was revealed the Unstitchers had wrong.  
"Wow." she laughed. "so the Unstitchers don't really know what they're talking about at all, do they."

The room went quiet. Three pairs of button-eyes were fixed on her, two golden, one black.  
"Well..." said Cain, exchanging a look with Abel. "that's not entirely true. They do have one thing right." Coraline sat a little forward on her seat, looking from one to the other, stomach churning.  
"What thing?" she asked.

"How to kill me." Eve replied, quite calmly.

**xXx**

_**Wybie and Bonnie arrive at the car park to find Doug, Loki and Alice already waiting for them. "What's this all about?" he demands of them, trying to sound brave.  
"We're concerned about Coraline." Alice says, after popping her pink bubble of gum.  
"Why?" Wybie asks, frowning. His heart pounds. "Is she okay?"  
"That's for you to decide." she replied. "Sit down, and we'll explain everything." **_

**xXx**

Coraline was dead silent, waiting for her to continue. Eve had stood up and walked to a little desk in the corner of the room that Coraline hadn't noticed before.

On top of the desk sat a little wooden box, about the size of a shoebox. "The button is the Fairy Godmother's life force." Eve explained as she sat back down with the box on her lap. She lifted the lid and from inside it she produced a little black button. She placed it on the table in front of Coraline "When she sews one of her buttons into a doll," she rested her hand on Cain's shoulder, "she instils that doll with a part of herself." Coraline nodded to show her understanding.

"But... if something _living-_ such as a child-" Eve's ruby lips turned down in a grimace "has a button sewn into his or her eye... and then they are killed, that part of the Godmother dies with the child." Eve stood, and tipped the box upside down, until there was a small pile of buttons on the table. "when the last button is gone, the Godmother dies."

Coraline's hands were shaking. "They have to... kill a child?" her voice shook. The image of Alice filled up her mind. This girl was a murderer? Loki's dark, cold eyes... Bonnie's bright smile- _Bonnie_ had killed people? Coraline's head was spinning. No... this couldn't be possible...  
"Actually, usually three or four per Godmother. It's a time-consuming process." Eve said, her tone very matter-of-fact. "It takes a lot of planning and forethought. The Godmother must be unaware of the plan, so many precautions have to take place-"  
"Wait." Coraline stood, "Hold it right there. Are you saying- are you saying that _I'm_ the kid they're going to kill?" her voice trembled. _That_ was the reason she had been brought to this place? _THAT _was the reason all along? she thought she might be sick. She thought she might faint. They'd been planning to kill her all along?

"Well. You _were_ to be until... well... Until you provided them with a _replacement..._" _No._  
"What are you talking about?" Coraline demanded, her heart dropping out of the bottom of her stomach. _No way_. Eve sighed. "_Tell_ _me_!"

"Right now, as we speak, your friend Wybie is being woken up, and taken down to the car park where your 'Unstitchers' are inclined to meet. They are currently explaining to him, in essence, what I have just explained to you, except that they are also convincing him that in order for my death to be ensured, he needs to sacrifice one of his eyes."  
"No... _no._" Coraline's eyes filled with tears. Not Wybie. "He couldn't! Wybie would never-"  
"He wouldn't?" Eve murmured, her voice soft and insidious. "Not even if he was told it was between his eye and yours?" The tears spilled over. "Oh dear..." Eve had evidently not been expecting such a violent reaction. "if it makes you feel any better, he doesn't know they're going to _kill_ him; just that he's losing his eye..."

Coraline tried to get up, to push past the other chairs. She had to get to the car park. She had to find him- to warn him. To tell him not to do it. "Oh Coraline, do sit down" Eve snapped. "Behaving hysterically isn't going to help save anyone." Though still in tears, Coraline did as she was told. Eve sidled around the side of the table to sit next to Coraline and held her close, running her long fingers through Coraline's blue hair.

"Now." Eve's lips curled into a devilish smile. "If we're going to save your friend, you're going to have to do exactly as I say. Okay, sweetheart?"

* * *

**A/N: Well. Phew! What a long haul! Hope that wasn't too long for you all (even WITH about half of it cut out...) In accumulated hours it's taken about a week and six cups of tea to put this baby together so I really **_**do**_** hope you liked it... and that it all made sense. Feel free to leave in a review or PM us any questions you still have that weren't answered in this chapter. There's a lot of stuff that we thought out that we couldn't put in due to the sheer length of it.**

**FUN FACT: A couple illustrations for you~ [for every DOT instead put a " . "] If the links don't work here (which they are inclined to do), a full version can be found in our profile. **

**Eve- **_th09**DOT**deviantart**DOT**net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/310/1/4/eve_another_other_mother_by_apple_green_coke-d329dg2**DOT**jpg _

**The Unstitchers- **_apple-green-coke**DOT**deviantart**DOT**com/art/Unstitchers-193493746_

**And Just for Autumn's Melody- **_apple-green-coke**DOT**deviantart**DOT**com/art/Claire-Bunny-193928074 _

**For all who reviewed the last chapter, and any chapter before hand we'd just like to issue a huge thank you. Oh! And kudos to the first person who can point out the Mary Poppins reference. You just might get a mention in the next chapter ;)  
Love always,  
CANDY xx**


	10. Murder

**Disclaimer; Neither CANDY nor myself own Coraline. How so very sad. :'(**

**10. Murder – (noun) **_**Law**__. The killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson __**(first-degree murder), **__and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation __**(second-degree murder). **_

**~xXx~**

Coraline didn't remember going back to her own bed after meeting Eve. She was just woken up by her very worried father opening the curtains. She shielded her eyes from the light pouring in through the newly opened window by burying her face in her pillow and mumbling 'go away'.

"Coraline! Come on, you're going to miss the tests!" He said, moving to Wybie's bed, and waking him up too. Coraline rolled over with a little moan. She was so tired. Charlie shook her shoulder roughly.

"C'mon lazybones…" He said, ripping the covers off. "It's your last one."

"Ugh" she moaned, dragging herself out of the bed. By the window, Wybie did the same. They dressed, and had a quick breakfast, all in silence.

"Right, get going, and I'll be here when you get back for lunch" Charlie said.

"You're not going anywhere today?" Coraline asked, and he shook his head.

"That doesn't matter, now get going" He said, ushering them out the door. Coraline and Wybie headed towards the elevator at the end of the hallway. She stole a glance at him, remembering what Eve had told her the night before. Would he really give up one of his eyes for her? They were friends, sure, but hadn't even been that _close_ over the last few years.

The thought made her feel like crying. He had no idea that he was _dying_ for her. If he knew, would he still agree?

"Jonesy?" She looked up to see him holding the elevator door open for her.

"Oh, sorry" He just gave her a tired smile, and fell into step beside her. They watched all the kids head into the hall, chatting softly amongst themselves. Coraline caught sight of Claire's odd white hair. No one in the group even suspected a thing about her.

"Are we going to the tests?" He asked quietly, and Coraline just shook her head. She couldn't concentrate on them _before_ all of this, let alone after. She started walking, not sure where, but she knew she hadn't already been down there. Eventually, they found a rather large set of big double doors, and Coraline pushed right through them. She squinted a bit as sunlight blinded her, but realised that they'd stumbled across the hotel pool.

"Never knew this was here" Wybie said, looking around. The water was crystal clear, like most hotel pools, and it was warm outside, so there were a few people stretched out on the randomly scattered banana lounges.

"Neither…wanna hang out here for a few hours?" she said, pulling off her t-shirt and just wearing the singlet underneath. He shrugged.

"Okay then-"

"Wybie! Coraline!" They scanned the pool for the familiar voice, and spied Bonnie sitting in one of the chairs, beside Doug. She was waving at them with that big smile on her face. Coraline couldn't help but think...could that grinning girl actually have killed people? And Doug?

Wybie was already on his way over to the pair, so Coraline had no choice but to follow. He sat down beside Doug, and she took the seat beside Bonnie.

"Isn't so _nice_ today? Way too sunny to be in those boring tests" The redhead giggled. She was wearing a denim-print bikini, with a pale blue sarong tied at her waist. It was only early, but it also looked like she was a little sunburned. Doug was wearing a pair of plain black boardshorts, with a red and white stripe going down either side.

"Mmm…like it should be when you're on holidays" Coraline replied with a little forced smile.

"Even though we're really- hey!" Wybie jumped as something small and tan-coloured jumped into his lap. The others turned to look at him.

"That's Dexter" Bonnie said with a bright smile. "He's my cat. And down there is Bert, and Loki has Duchess, and then Alice has Chief" Dexter was only a kitten, with big eyes and long whiskers. Sitting on the ground beside Doug, stretched out on the warm ground was a ginger tom, tail twitching lazily in the sun.

"He's cute" Wybie smiled, scratching Dexter behind the ear. It was like his front legs buckled instantly, and he rolled onto his side. The boy laughed, until Dexter found his shoelace and decided that he was going to play with it.

"He looks like a baby, but he was very helpful with my Other Mother-"

"Beldam, Bonnie" Doug reminded her.

"What_ever_, Doug" She replied, rolling her eyes. As Bonnie chattered away, Coraline leaned back on her chair, closing her eyes. She heard most of what they were saying, wary of them, but mainly just went over her adventure from the previous night, everything Eve had told her, and everything she'd seen. Could she be trusted? She still wasn't 100 percent sure.

After a while (No one had noticed that she hadn't been paying attention) Wybie made a strange sound that made her sit up. Dexter was sitting upright in his lap, ears pricked. The orange tom was doing the same thing.

"Bert?" Doug said, petting his head. He didn't move, except for his tail twitching a little.

"Is there a bird or something?" Wybie asked, looking around. They couldn't see anything that might cause such strange behaviour. Then Coraline spotted him. A tall, thin man with a pointed chin and goatee, wearing a pair of very dark sunglasses was walking towards them. He had a towel draped over one arm, although it didn't look as though he'd been swimming.

She widened her eyes, almost in warning. _Don't come over this way!_ If he noticed her warning, Cain just ignored it. What was he even _doing_ here?

"Good morning, children" he said with a smile as he passed. Both Bert and Dexter had flattened their ears against their skull, and Dexter had puffed up his fur a little. Doug was surprised to hear his cat give a little hiss. Then he vanished into the hotel, and they settled down. Dexter started washing his face with his paw, and Bert stretched out in the sun again, still a little wary.

"…wow" Bonnie was leaning forward in her chair. "Who was that?"

"Dunno…" Doug said. "Should we tell Alice?"

"Probably" The redhead replied. "Cats know stuff we don't…"

"Well…if you go tell Alice, we can follow him and see where he goes?" Wybie offered. Bonnie nodded enthusiastically.

"Good idea. Quick, before you lose him…and don't forget we're meeting tonight!" Wybie jumped to his feet (leaving a very disgruntled Dexter behind) and headed towards the doors, waiting for Coraline to catch up. When they were out of sight, she grabbed his elbow.

"You know this is pointless, right?" She told him, and he turned to face her.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because if he _is_ working for her, then he's not gonna let us find him, and the chances are more than likely he's just a hotel patron" She said, crossing her arms.

"But you saw the cats…"

"Yeah, well…cats sometimes just don't like people" she frowned. He sighed.

"Well fine…what're we gonna do now?" As if in answer to his question, the doors to the hall opened, and all the students poured out, thrilled about having no more tests. Most were discussing the Halloween party the next night. They spotted Claire, as she headed upstairs.

"I don't know" She said. "Go upstairs? Have some lunch?"

"…I still think we should follow-"

"Lunch it is" And with that, she headed towards the elevator. He hesitated for a moment, before following her inside. There was only one other person in the elevator – a tall, thin woman with glasses, a pointy nose and a pencil skirt. The look on her face expressed her dislike for the two children. Her presence meant that they couldn't talk about the Unstitchers, but Coraline had plenty to think about.

When they went into the room, Charlie started congratulating them on finishing, and telling them how proud he was of them. Coraline gave a tired little smile, and sank into one of the chairs. Wybie sat beside her.

"Now, because I know you weren't listening, Alice says we're meeting in the car park again tonight, to discuss what's going on at the Halloween thingy tomorrow" He said in a soft voice, so Charlie couldn't hear. He was ordering them something to eat.

"Okay" She replied. "Do…you have any idea what they're planning?"

"No" He replied, but she could see a little something in his eyes that convinced her that he wasn't telling the truth. "They haven't told me anything…why would they?" She didn't reply. He raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"Fine…" She snapped out of it, and got to her feet, although she wasn't sure why. "I… um, need the bathroom…scuse me" Coraline vanished into the room, locking it behind her. She stared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment. Why would he even bother dying for someone like her? She was a brat.

"Should I tell him?" She asked out loud, sitting on the closed toilet lid. She looked up at the mirror, as that familiar, elegant red script appeared.

_Patience. _

"Eve?" Coraline got to her feet, and quickly wiped off the word. It occurred to her that maybe the Godmother couldn't hear her, so she picked up the lipstick, but then found that to be absurd. Of course she could hear. "Don't let them hurt him" She said softly. That same word wrote itself on the mirror.

_Patience._

**~xXx~**

Coraline and Wybie were sitting in their beds, in the dark, listening to Charlie snoring. When they were sure he was well and truly asleep, they tiptoed around the room, pulling on shoes and jumpers. In silence, they snuck through the empty halls of the hotel, and slipped into the elevator. When they were inside, Wybie let out a little sigh.

"That never gets old… sneaking out" He said with a smile. Coraline yawned, and her hand covered a little smile afterwards. She was a little distracted by the task Eve had given her the previous night. She didn't know how to do it. Wybie didn't notice that Cat was on his heels until they were basically in the carpark, where he scooped him up and started to scratch him behind the ear.

The first thing Coraline saw as they approached were two, green cat eyes that had caught the light, making them glow.

The rest of the Unstitchers came into view, and she realised that the eyes belonged to Alice's scary cat. Chief, Bonnie had called him earlier.  
"Thankyou for gracing us with your presence" Alice said, playing with a pair of scissors. It looked as though she'd been cutting holes and rips in her denim skirt to pass the time.

"Sorry…couldn't get out any earlier" Wybie said, and Coraline nodded in agreement. Bonnie and Dexter were sitting on a bench beside Doug and Bert, while Loki and Alice both sat on a car, their cats sitting quietly beside them. Claire was sitting on the ground beside the car, with Gray in her lap.

"Well…I spose we should let you in on the plan" Alice sighed, as though she really couldn't be bothered. Coraline quickly stole a glance at Wybie, but he didn't show any signs of fear, or regret, or anything. He just looked like his normal self, paying close attention to whatever the dark haired girl on the car was going to say. Claire stood, so that she could see, and reached out to gently pet Chief on the head.

It happened very quickly, after that. The tortoiseshell's head whipped around, and he bit down on Claire's hand. She yelped in pain, and jumped away, her back facing the car. But even Coraline could see the sawdust trickling through her fingers, so there was no way the rest of the Unstitchers missed it. Alice just stared for a moment, in disbelief, almost. She jumped off the car, and onto Claire, knocking her to the ground, her face livid. Despite Claire's struggles, Alice tore off the eye patch, and threw it on the ground.

The button glinted a little, and Loki leaned forward on the bonnet of the car so he could see. Beside him, Chief's fur was bristling, and his dark, suspicious eyes never left Claire. His tail was curled around Loki's wrist. Duchess just looked bored. Alice seemed to shake with fury.

Coraline gripped Wybie's arm in fear for the poor girl. The others just stared, shocked, as Alice screamed in rage, and brought down the scissors she'd been playing with earlier into Claire's stomach. She cried out in pain, but Alice didn't stop at that. No, she tore it open, dragging the scissor blade through her skin. Coraline's grip on Wybie's arm tightened…surely that sound would stay in her mind forever. She should have stepped in… stopped Alice from going too far. But she was rooted to the spot in fear.

The dark haired girl watched as sawdust spilled out of Claire's stomach, a look of utmost disgust on her face. She continued to hurl insults and threats, and swear words as she stabbed, and slashed at the poor girl. Her chest… her neck. Eventually, she even tore open Claire's pretty face, ignoring the cries, and screams of pain and fear. Coraline could only hear that awful ripping sound, and buried her face in Wybie's shoulder.

Alice used her fingernails to tear the button eye out, and Claire's screams died down. She stopped struggling. Like a balloon with a tiny hole in it…she just deflated. Coraline shuddered, knowing what the sudden absence of screaming meant, feeling tears threatening to fall. Wybie just looked stunned. Alice stood up, and wiped her hands on her skirt, throwing the scissors on the ground in a rage. Then she kicked the sawdust, like a child having a tantrum.

But she still managed to make it frightening. Alice stormed off into the hotel, swearing to herself, and leaving the rest of them behind.

"…wow" Bonnie whispered, moving closer to Claire's body – or what was left of it. She knelt down.

"So she was a spy the whole time" Doug frowned, and Bonnie started to play with the sawdust a little.

"Does this mean that the plan is off? I mean, the Queen Beldam might know everything" Bonnie said, looking up at Loki, who shook his head.

"We didn't tell her the plan." He slipped off the car, and into the sawdust. "So, the Queen knows that something's up, but she won't know what to expect"

"Is that safe?" Doug asked, and Loki shrugged.

"Probably not. But we won't have another chance to get her" Bonnie stood up straight, standing at Loki's shoulder.

"He's right. We've got to get her now" Wybie agreed, and Coraline stared at him. "She'll be angry when she finds out what happened to Claire"

"Right. So…we need to work quickly. I'll talk to Alice, maybe change the plan around a little bit, and we'll get back to you" He scooped up Duchess and headed inside, followed by Doug and Bonnie, who were talking together in hushed whispers.

"Jonesy, are you okay?" Wybie asked, watching as she knelt down by Claire. She felt something brush her leg, and looked down to see Cat. His big blue eyes were sad.

"That was… the most awful thing…" She said, picking up the glass eye.

"Well…it had to be done"

"What?" She turned to face him, slipping the eye into her pocket.

"She was a spy! For the Beldam, Coraline, so she was probably going to try and sew buttons in your eyes anyway!" Wybie said, pulling her to her feet. She took a breath, and nodded.

"I know…but…she didn't have to do it like that" Coraline said, and Wybie put a hand on her back, taking her inside. The contact made her heart skip a beat or two as they walked back to their room in silence, Cat trotting along behind them.

~xXx~

Coraline was curled up under her doona, watching Wybie through teary eyes. When she was sure he was asleep, she got up, and slipped her feet into her slippers. She followed Cat through the halls, wiping at tears on her cheeks, and they stopped at the old dumbwaiter.

Cat gave a little yowl, nodding at the door. She nodded back, took a deep breath, and climbed inside. That familiar whooshing in her ears, plus that warm, sweet smell was the same as last time, as was the bright blue. The only difference was that it didn't seem to take as long. Probably because she was so hesitant to even see Eve.

The light appeared above her, and she grabbed the opening, pulling herself through. She stood in the empty kitchen, her arms wrapped around her middle.

"Eve?" She called, and there was no answer.

"She's probably working" Cat replied, sitting at her feet. Coraline nodded, and headed in the same direction as she had before, looking around. She heard a strange 'clack, clack, clack' coming from the other end of the hallway, and a proud dark Friesian horse rounded the corner, a man in a cowboy hat in the saddle.

"Cain?"

"Miss Jones" He replied, tipping his hat and spurring the horse into a brisk trot down the hallway. It stopped just beside her, and she stroked its thick neck.  
"How can I help you, lil lady?" He asked, in a southern accent, dismounting.

"Umm…where's Eve?" She replied in a quiet voice.

"Probably in a dream…what's happened?" His voice went back into its normal Bond-Villain accent. The horse tossed its head.

"Cain, take this uncomfortable contraption off" The horse said, twisting his head to bite the saddle.

"Abel?" Coraline asked, as Cain removed the gear.

"Indeed. How are you, Coraline?"

"I need to see Eve as soon as possible." She replied, as Abel turned back to his ordinary self. One of the golden doors opened, and there she was, in a stunning black qi pao. It was black, with gold trim, and her heels were the same bright gold. She held an empty tray of muffins.

"Sweet thing" She said to herself, closing the door behind her. She fixed her button eyes on the three of them.

"Who was that, Mother?" Abel asked curiously.

"…Little Eunice. Wanted a set of paints with every colour imaginable…even the ones without names. Her favourite is blueberry" She sounded almost close to crying.

"Eve…it's about Claire" Coraline went up to her, and held out the glass eye she'd slipped into her pocket. Eve put a hand over her mouth, and took it with the other hand.

Coraline stood there quietly, hands clasped in front of her, while Cain and Abel both shared a look of horror. In the back of her mind, she could hear a soft buzzing sound, but ignored it. Eve turned her back to them, and the sound grew steadily louder. She cleared her throat.

"Cain…Abel… please escort Coraline home" The two nodded, holding out a hand each for Coraline to take and they led her further down the hallway. Abel closed the golden door behind them, but it didn't mask the bloodcurdling shriek of rage from behind it, which sent a chill down Coraline's spine.

**A/N;**  
**Hello all. What a frightful chapter D:**  
**And I do apologise. I'm SOOOO sorry. In fact, I should be doing homework right now, but out of sheer guilt, I pushed it aside.**  
**SPECIAL MENTION TO SAMI, who was the only one to pick the Mary Poppins reference, which was 'Spit Spot'. For shame, people =P Well done, Big Sister**

**I'm sitting here on my bed with my own dear cat, Lily (She's drooling all over me) [EDIT; and now Dexter], avoiding homework because I _need_ to get this chapter up and running. So, this chapters question is; Do you have a lovely, loyal feline companion who would help you out with a rogue Beldam?**

**FUN FACT;**  
**So yeah, Coraline's Other Mother's name is Mary. Now, even though it's not mentioned in the actual fic, of course all the other Other Mothers have names as well, so I thought I'd share them with you. Alice's was named Isis, and Loki's was named Frigga, while Bonnie's was Gaia, and Dougs was Durga. Obviously, Claire's Mother's name is Eve. Spot any connections? Only the greatest mothers in history.**

**So yes, again, I do apologise greatly for the delay. Start of the school year, plus a minor case of OCD (I wrote the scene with Claire FIVE times D: ) is to blame. Hopefully CANDY does a better job than that, huh?  
EDIT: I fixed those few mistakes, pointed out by Sparkles. And also my A/N...sorry bout that =S**

**Amaze us, Mama.**  
**Stay Shiny xx,**  
**Knut**


	11. Jackie Chan

**A Quick A/N: Just for our more delicate readers, there is a little bit more swearing in this chapter than usual. Nothing too Pulp Fiction, besides. You'd probably swear too, if it was you. =P **

**Unstitchers**

**Chapter Eleven - **"_Of course I'm scared. I'm not Superman."_  
~ Jackie Chan

_**14hrs: 11mins: 8secs**_

When Wybie awoke he found Coraline sitting upright in her bed, staring at the opposite wall. Her face was blank, and paler than usual, almost as if she hadn't been sleeping at all.

In truth, she _hadn't _slept. She'd actually been sitting like that all through the night, ever since returning from the other-world. She hadn't been able to sleep. Not with that shriek still ringing in her ears.

"Can you hear it?" she murmured to him, rings around her eyes giving her a face a gaunt, ghostly look. "Is it just me?"

"Hear what?"

"The buzzing..." she said, swaying a little in her seat. She looked like she was about to faint. "She's so _angry_..."

Wybie couldn't look at her; he focused instead on his knees for a moment, swallowing to quell the terror. And it _was_ terror- pure and unadulterated. Tonight was the night he lost his eye. Both started to water, and his skin crawled at the mere thought. Someone was going to stick a needle in his eye tonight. For a second he thought he could feel it already, and he rubbed both of them hard with shaking hands to stop it.

She looked up at him. "Are you okay?" she asked him softly. He started.

"W-what? Yeah! I'm fine" he stuttered, giving a weak laugh. "Tonight's the night, huh?" he said, trying to force a sense of enthusiasm into his voice. Coraline seemed to grow even paler.

"It's tonight" she agreed. She didn't even bother trying to look excited; the dread was plain on her face. She stood up and walked over, sitting on the edge of his bed. She was silent for a long while, just looking at the floor. "Wybie..." she eventually began.

"Yeah, Coraline?" his voice nearly cracked.

"Let's not do it" she said.

Her words brought him up short. "What?"

"Lets forget about the whole thing. It's not really our business anyway... Lets go home- I know I could convince Dad to book us back an early flight. I'd say were were too tired for the party or something. I'm pretty sure his work is finished..." there hadn't been a noise from his room that morning, so she assumed he was sleeping in. "We could be gone before any of the Unstitchers ever found out-"

"What!" he looked shocked and a little bit outraged. "You want to just abandon them? They- They're counting on us, Coraline! They _need_ us!"

"For _what_! They could do it just as well on their own!"

"...You don't understand" he eventually said, a little condescendingly. Alice had said he couldn't tell her... And knowing her, she'd try to play the hero and take his place or something. Well to Hell with that; it was his god-damn turn.

"Wybie, I'm scared" she said. She looked like she was about to break down and sob. He stared at her for a moment in hopelessness, hands folded in his lap.

"Me too..." he eventually said quietly. "But... we have to do this." After another moment of awkward hesitation, he reached out and hugged her around the shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder, beginning to sob in earnest. He fought the sting in his throat; the part of him that wanted to follow suit and instead just softly patted her shoulder, uncertain of what exactly one said to a crying girl. He hadn't known it scared her _that_ much. His became only more confused at her next words;

"You're so _stupid_."

xXx

_**14hrs: 3mins: 36secs**_

At a knock on the door Coraline looked up, quickly wiping the tears from her face. She glanced at Wybie, who shrugged. Charlie was still in his room.

"Who is it?"

"Delivery" dead-panned the voice on the other side of the door. She slowly stood up and went over to the door, pulling it open.

"Doug!" He was dressed in what looked like a valet-jacket. He looked incredibly on-edge.

"Sure" he snarked, rolling his eyes. "Advertise it to the whole world, why don't you. That's why I'm wearing a disguise. So eeeeeverybody knows who I am."

"What the hell?" she fired at him, pulling him inside the room and slamming shut the door.

"Hey! Hands off the merchandise, lady!"

"Doug?" Wybie echoed in confusion, walking over.

"Look, I just came to give you guys these." He pulled a plastic bag out from inside his coat. Coraline peered inside to find what looked to be a pair of wigs, a brown curly one, and a straight blue one. "Stuff your blankets with extra pillows tonight, and stick those on top in case anybody comes looking for you. Also," he turned to Coraline, "_Fuck you_ and your blue hair. Do you have _any_ idea how hard it is to find a wig for that?"

"Leave her alone" Wybie retorted, scowling. Doug turned to him.

"Whatever. I'm sposed to give you your instructions, cause the boss doesn't want us all meeting up and attracting attention, especially now we know we've been spied on the whole time." He turned to Coraline. "You're on hall-duty." he said. "Bonnie's gonna take care of the south end, and you're gonna take care of the other. You'll find what you need in the second floor broom cupboard in a bag labelled 'Wednesday' clear?"

"Right. Got it..." she said. Her stomach was churning. Doug turned back to Wybie.

"Your job is to-"

"Well good morning, everybody!" all three of them whirled to face the master-room door. Charlie had flung it open and was leaning against the frame in his pyjamas, looking remarkably refreshed and cheerful. He looked at Doug. "I don't believe we've met." he said.

"I'm-"

"This is Rory. He's from Wisconsin" Coraline interrupted.

"Wisconsin, huh?" Charlie asked. "Say, Rory, I was gonna take these two kids downstairs for breakfast, wanna join us?"

"Oh I don't think-"

"Aw c'mon. It'll be fun. Coraline? Wybie? I want you two ready to go in ten" he said, disappearing into the other room. "I'm gonna put on some _pants!_" Coraline cringed at his enthusiastic declaration. Doug gave her a look.

"_Rory?_" he asked. "From _Wisconsin?"_

"You said you didn't want people to know who you were" she retorted.

"_Wisconsin? _Are you _kidding _me?"

"Okay sorry! _Jesus_..." she grumbled, letting it go. She had enough on her mind. Eve had given her one task, and one task only. This task was the entire reason Eve had spoken to her in the first place, and if it wasn't carried out, then Coraline didn't _know_ what would happen to them... it was also impossible. And she only had- she checked her watch- 13 hours, 57 minutes and 12 seconds to come up with a way to do it.

_"There's just one thing I need you to do, darling" _Eve had said. "_One little thing, and then I'll take care of the rest... When Alice takes Wybie down to my world, I need you to make sure that the others- Bonnie and Loki and dear Douglas- they all come down to see me too. I don't care how you do it. I need them _all _here. Every. Last. One."_

xXx

**13hrs: 46mins: 53secs**

The sullen boy in the valet-jacket attracted a lot of curious looks as they all walked down to the restaurant together, Charlie discussing breakfast enthusiastically as he walked.

"What are you kids all in the mood for? I could go for some pancakes myself. Smothered in honey, I think. I've been having this craving..."

"It's not _so_ bad, see?" Wybie said to Doug. Coraline was too busy worrying to pay any attention to either of them.

"We're practically the definition of subtle" Doug deadpanned.

"You didn't _have_ to come..."

After placing their orders at the counter (Everyone ordered something that featured honey in some way. In fact, more than half the dishes on the breakfast menu featured the condiment. Coraline thought she was going insane), they found a little table and sat around for a little while. Charlie and Wybie were the only ones even making an _attempt_ at polite conversation. Coraline focused on eating her (completely honey-free) eggs.

At one point , after complimenting "Rory" on his jacket, Charlie got up to use the bathroom. Doug seized his chance.

"Okay Wybie, I never got to tell you what your job is" he said, licking the honey off of his fingers and turning to the other boy. Coraline's head snapped up. "You're gonna be on the floor above. It's your job to jam the dumb waiter so no one tries to use it while we're in there."

"It's not used anymore" Wybie said with a frown. Coraline also frowned, incredibly confused. "There's no need to jam it... I should be going down there."

"Alice thinks its best to be caref-"

"It's pointless" Wybie argued. "The dumb waiter's abandoned. I'll be more useful down there with Alice."

Doug threw up his hands. "Whatever" he said. "You can take it up with Alice."

Coraline stared at the two as it hit her. The entire conversation they'd just had had been scripted; a performance for _her_ benefit. Wybie met her eyes, looking like he expected her to make some sort of protest. Maybe say it should be _her_ that needed to go down into the other-world, so he could reply with a well thought out and rehearsed retort. She didn't say anything. She somehow couldn't find her voice.

"I've gotta go... to the bathroom" she said quietly, before fleeing the table.

Managing to reach the bathroom without crying yet, she slammed the door open and froze in her tracks at the sight before her.

Red rimmed and glassy blue eyes flicked her way, as the girl who had been looking in the mirror whirled around to face her. It was Alice. Alice was _crying.  
_

Coraline was dumbstruck. "Wh- I-"

"_WHAT_!" Alice shrieked. "WHAT DO _YOU_ WANT?"

**13hrs: 12mins: 42secs**

Coraline retreated half a step. "I don't- I didn't- I'm sorry-"

"Fuck you." the other girl hissed, storming from the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind her. Coraline reeled in shock. Alice had been crying. She turned to the mirror, staring into her own reflection, shaken to the core.

At first she thought it was the mirror that was warping, changing- until she felt the hot tears on her cheeks. She knew it shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but the sight of Alice like that was nothing if not deeply unnerving. No. She wiped the tears furiously from her eyes. Alice didn't deserve her sympathy. Coraline had _watched_ her kill Claire with a pair of scissors. All of the Unstitchers were murderers... right?

That was what Eve had said. But who was to say that Eve wasn't lying too? Who was to say that Alice hadn't been completely justified in killing Claire? Cat did... Cat had never lied to her... except supposedly two years ago when he'd said that the Beldam wanted to eat her...

She put her face in her hands, realising her mind was going in circles.

The worst part was she didn't even know what Eve was planning to _do_ to them. Why did she need them all to be down there in the first place? What was going to happen to them if they were... And what would happen to _her_ if she didn't make it in time? What would happen to Wybie?

She knew she had no choice. And yet, Eve may have looked and acted like the perfect woman, the perfect mother; but there was still something very wrong with her. Something wrong with her beautiful castle and her exquisite clothes, her delicious food, her perfect ruby smile. Something under the surface, that made Coraline's shudder just to think about. A terrible power.

Coraline had to do what she said. There wasn't any other choice, not if Wybie was going to survive. She banged her fists against the bench in frustration and anger. _S_he was running out of _time! _She didn't know _how! _

_**Don't disappoint me, Coraline **_

She let out a short scream of fright when she glanced up again at the mirror, seeing the words that had been written upon it. Shock and panic jerking her into action, she tried to hurriedly wipe the words off with her hands. The walls of the room seemed to be shrinking, growing closer, and she ended up just smearing the lipstick all over the mirror and her palms. Almost sobbing, she tried to wash it off. The water ran red.

Then new words appeared on the mirror, only seconds after she'd wiped the last ones off.

_**I've got my eye on you. **_

_**12hrs: 59mins: 4secs**_

Wiping her hands on her jeans, she escaped the bathroom to find that Wybie was waiting just outside the door. Taking in the tears on her cheeks and her red-stained hands in one quick glance, his expression turned horrified.

"What happened?"

"What? Nothing. Nothing." she said, hands shaking.

"Charlie was wondering where you were. He asked me to come find you. Doug left a couple minutes ago... are you sure you're okay? Coraline what's going on?" He wasn't stupid. He'd noticed she was acting weirdly. "I deserve to know."

She wanted nothing more than to tell him everything. To fall into his arms and cry her eyes out. But Eve's words rang in her head, along with that incessant buzzing, steadily increasing in volume.

"_I've got to tell him! I've got to warn Wybie!"_

_"No Coraline. You are not to tell _anybody_, not even poor, dear Wybourne."_

"Its nothing." she said softly, looking at her shoes. "I'm fine... I just wish..." a couple people walked past them and she fell silent until they had rounded the corner- out of earshot. "I wish this had never happened. I wish everything was back to normal." her voice was very small.

He was silent a long while too, never looking in her eyes. "...I don't."

"What?" she looked up at him in surprise. "How can you say that? After all the _fucked_ _up_ things we've seen since we got here-"

"You never talked to me at school." he said quietly to a spot on the wall behind her "You laughed when your friends made fun of me and my friends. You never sat next to me unless you wanted to copy my answers. In fact I don't think you ever really liked me unless there was a Beldam around you needed my help with."

She just stared at him. She didn't know what to say. Everything he said was true and yet, totally wrong. She did like him. More than she'd ever care to admit to anyone.

"I dunno." he said, scratching the back of his head in a sudden bout of self consciousness. "I guess I just missed how it used to be with us. Forget it." he made to turn away, but she caught his hand.

"Wait-" she said, biting her lip. "I'm sorry. I mean- Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad." he said.

"Okay..." she still hadn't let go of his hand, but he didn't make any move to let go either. Not even when a couple of people walked by. "Well..." she took a deep breath. "Look. Wybie, I-"

"Coraline!"

Wybie let go of her hand immediately, turning to the red-headed girl who was approaching them from down the hall. Coraline's heart sank. "Hey guys" said the girl as she reached them. She looked a little worried. "You guys haven't seen Dexter have you?"

"Hi Bonnie. We haven't. Sorry." said Wybie. "We did see Doug though. He told us the instructions to give you."

"Wow... it's tonight isn't it... I nearly forgot..." she gave them a sunny grin. "What did he say?"

"Um... you're on the south end of the hallway, and everything you need is on the fourth floor, under the first pot plant on the left."

"Got it. Thanks." she said with a little smile. "I guess I'll see you 'round. Wow... are you guys excited?" Wybie's hand went to his face and he rubbed his eye a little bit , forcing a smile.

"Can't wait." said Coraline flatly.

_**10hrs: 32mins: 28secs**_

Once they were sure Charlie was preoccupied in the next room, Coraline and Wybie slipped out, heading downstairs towards where they understood the laundry to be. Glancing around the hallway to make sure they were alone, they pushed the door open and slipped inside.

It was heavy and humid in there, and it smelled like soap. The sheets and pillow slips all tumbled around in their washers, stacked one on top of another against the walls.

"These are all the washers..." Wybie said. "Where are all the dryers?"

They deepened their search, scanning the walls for tumble-dryers. Coraline stopped in her tracks. Inside one of the washing machines she saw a glint of gold. She took a step closer.

It was a enormous toad, sitting in the swirling water, watching them with golden button-eyes as the passed. Her blood ran cold. _I've got my eye on you..._

With a cry of alarm from Wybie, she reached over and yanked on the handle, pulling the door open. The washer's turn-off mechanism kicked into action as soon as the door opened, but that didn't stop the wave of water that escaped and washed over their shoes and ankles.

"What the _hell_ Coraline?" Wybie exploded. "What was that for?"

She looked at him with wide eyes, before turning back to the washer. It was empty, except for a bunch of pillow cases. There was no toad to be seen. "I... I thought..." she stared at the empty washer for a second, before closing the door.

"Are..." Wybie frowned, walking up behind her, touching her elbow. "Are you feeling alright? Do you need to sit down or something?"

"I'm okay."

_**10hrs: 5mins: 44secs**_

"And just _what,_" a thoroughly irritated voice issued from behind them. "do you two think you're doing here?"

They whirled around to find a woman in a maid's uniform picking her way through the water towards them, a basket of sheets on her hip.

"Delilah?" they asked in unison.

"What you looking so surprised for? I _work_ here, unlike yourselves." her lips twisted in a grimace at the mess. "What are youtwo _doing_?"

"..." Wybie and Coraline exchanged a look. "Looking for extra pillows." Wybie admitted.

"You're on the wrong side of the building honey." she sighed, setting her basket down on a bench, and getting a mop from the corner. "Linen cupboards are all along the east inner wall."

"... are they locked?" he asked curiously.

"Yes." she said.

"Do you have a key?"

"Yes."

"..." Wybie and Coraline exchanged another look. "Can we borrow it?"

Del looked up from her mopping, and gave them both a long-suffering look. She leaned the mop against the washers, and pulled a keyring from her pocket, holding up one key. "If I do this for you..." she began "Will you stop making my job harder, and _try_ to behave?" there was a smile in her eyes.

They nodded, and she pulled the key off the ring. "Go on, get." she said. "Let me clean up this mess of yours."

_**6hrs: 30mins: 15secs**_

The linen was hidden safely under their beds, and all they had to do now was wait for the evening to arrive. Wybie had paced the room for a while in agitation, while Coraline sat on the bed in silence, her mind furiously working. She had to think of a way to get all the Unstitchers down the dumb waiter before the night was out.

The problem was, the few ideas she'd had so far had all depended on her acting skills, which were less than convincing at the best of times. She was really starting to panic now. What would happen if she didn't make it?

With about five hours to go, Wybie decided it was time to go see Alice. Again, when he left, he looked like he expected her to protest him going down into the other-world. Instead she just nodded, not taking her eyes off the wall in front of her. She needed to think.

Of course, when he was gone there was absolutely no possibility of concentration. She couldn't know what he was doing. When he had been gone only fifteen minutes she started to panic; her mind making up wild and awful possibilities in her anxiety.

What if they'd gone down already? Maybe Alice had found out that she was a spy too, and they'd lied to her about waiting until the evening. Ten more minutes passed. Maybe she was too late. Maybe Wybie was already dead.

The thought had barely crossed her mind before she bolted for the door, flinging it open. She started when she saw Wybie on the other side, hand half stretched out like he'd just been reaching for the doorknob. He blinked at her a couple times in dumb surprise.

"Well that was creep-"

He was cut off when she threw her arms around his shoulders. After another moment of surprise, he hugged her back. "You're a lot nicer when you're freaked out..." he mumbled, and there was a smile in his voice.

As she hugged him tighter it all became clearer. She knew what she had to do. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid." she whispered in his ear.

"... I promise?"

"Good" she said. _Cause saving your life is going to be hard enough as it is.

* * *

_

**A/N: Hi again! CANDY here! Sorry it took so long and all that Jazz. Hope you liked it anyway. Stuff's heating up, no? Since Knut stole my 'darker and scarier' schtick for HER last chapter, I thought I'd delve into some fluff for mine. Couldn't keep the creepiness out completely, though... Anyway, let us know if you liked it, yeah? ^^**

**FUN FACT: Playlist!  
Walking On Air – **Kerli**  
****Brick By Boring Brick- **Paramore**  
****2-1- **Imogen Heap**  
****Girl With One Eye – **Florence and the Machine**  
****Foreign Language –** Anberlin**  
****Earth - **Imogen Heap. Again. **  
****Wow – **Kylie **(Just kidding... but not really *dances*)  
****A Dream is a Wish – **Cinderella, Disney

**Stay shiny! **

**Love always, CANDY**


	12. Dr Seuss

**Disclaimer; Because I seem to be the only one who remembers these, neither CANDY or myself own Coraline. We do, however, own the Unstitchers, Eve, Cain & Abel, and Jeff, with a J, not a G.**

**- Unstitchers -**

**12. **_I've heard there are troubles of more than one kind.  
__Some come from ahead and some come from behind,  
__But I've bought a big bat, I'm all ready you see,  
__Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!_

~Dr. Seuss

_**2 hours; 47 minutes; 54 seconds**_

Coraline sat on the bed, a bundle of nerves making her jump at every loud sound. Wybie was sitting cross legged in front of her, mumbling every time she pulled his hair a little too hard with the comb.

"Jonesy- ow- I think that- ow- you're- ow- my hair is _attached to my head, you know_" He hissed, and she just continued to slick his hair down flat, silent for a moment.

_They're going to try to kill you_.

"Really? I didn't know that, Wybourne" She replied, to more ouches. "Stop being such a baby"

"Don't pull so hard!" He shot back, pulling a face.

"If you brushed your hair once in a while, we wouldn't be in this mess" She told him. This simple, everyday banter was relaxing her a little bit, they were like they used to be.  
"Besides, it'll all be worth it. You'll look nothing short of dashing"

_**2 hours; 12 minutes; 36 seconds**_

"Jonesy…I feel ridiculous…"

"I don't know why…Erik is a total badass" Coraline told him from the bathroom. She'd worn the red tube of lipstick down to a stub over the last few days, writing on the mirror and such, so it was pretty much useless now. She's decided instead to use a crappy clear gloss she'd gotten her dad to buy her.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror, and nodded to herself. _Wish me luck._

"I dunno…my hair feels pretty gross"

"It looks fine, Wybie" Coraline told him, leaving the bathroom in her witch costume. He was standing there, in his big black cape and white half mask. His hair was all slicked back. She was right – he was nothing short of dashing.

She was wearing her witchy dress, all black and tight, with jagged sleeves, and hem, and blue and black stripy tights. She was also wearing a pair of flat boots that ran halfway up her calves and a pointed hat on her head. In one hand, she held a broom.

"Ready to go?" He asked, and she nodded. Charlie had decided against a costume, he was just waiting at the door for them.

"Okay kids…we've got a party to go to" He grinned. Wybie offered Coraline his arm, and she shyly took it. She was going over her plan in her head as they rode the elevator down.

The room had been spruced up something fierce, with streamers in about eight different colours. Of course, they were all in a perfect order, red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, purple and red again. All about…thirty centimetres apart. No, wait. _Exactly _thirty centimetres. Coraline rolled her eyes. That was to be expected at a _maths_ competition. There was also a dance floor, full of kids and parents, plus about four huge tables loaded with food.

"Wybie! Coraline! Wow…great costumes!" They turned to see Bonnie bouncing over to them. She was wearing a fluffy orange bear costume, with a white belly. She had little ears poking out of her hair, and on her tummy were two yellow flowers with wide smiles.

"…are you a care bear?"

"Uhuh! I'm Friend-Bear" Bonnie grinned at Wybie, who nodded as if to say '...whatever'.

"Who's this? Another friend of yours?" Charlie asked, and Coraline nodded.

"This is Bonnie…"

"It's very nice to meet you Bonnie. You kids go have fun…make sure you eat something"

"Sure dad" Coraline said, and Bonnie led them through the crowd of people. It seemed as though everyone had gone to an awful lot of trouble for their costumes. They headed towards the food table, where a very bored looking Loki in a red devil's costume was picking the smarties off of all the chocolate cupcakes.

"Loki! Look who I found!" Bonnie giggled, and he looked their costumes up and down.

"Witch costume looks pretty cute… and…the Phantom?" He said, making Coraline pull her dress down a little, cheeks burning. She was wearing tights underneath, but still.

"Yeah…" Wybie said, a little coldly, patting his hair.

"Looks good" Loki told him without taking his eyes off his cupcake.

"Where are the others?" Coraline asked, and Loki shrugged.

"I'm not their keeper"

"…Coraline, I love this song, will you dance with me?" Bonnie asked, bouncing.

"I dunno…should we really-"

"It's a party, c'mon!" Without waiting for an answer, she tugged her hand, and dragged her onto the dancefloor. The sight of a witch and a carebear dancing together made Wybie smile a little.

_**1 hour; 54 minutes; 42 seconds**_

Coraline stepped off the dancefloor, red faced and smiling a little.

"Go on Loki…dance with Coraline" Bonnie said, elbowing him in the ribs.

"No thankyou"

"She wants you to dance with her" Bonnie pestered. Loki looked at Coraline, an eyebrow raised.

"Do you?" Coraline shrugged with a breathless little laugh.

"I don't mind"

"That's a 'Yes-But-I'm-Too-Shy-To-Ask', Loki…" Bonnie told him, making Coraline roll her eyes. Loki stood up straight, and took her hand, leading her onto the dancefloor without a word.

Wybie and Bonnie were standing together at the table, watching them.

"How're you feeling…bout tonight?" She asked him, and he looked at her, his eyes starting to water a little at the thought of someone pushing a needle through them.

"…I feel sick just thinking about it, actually" He confessed.

"…You're very brave, Wybie. And I'm sure Coraline will be happy when she learns _why_ you did it-"

"Well, don't you look attractive, Hugs-a-Lot?" They turned to see Alice, standing in her normal clothes looking very unimpressed with the whole party setup. Bonnie said something softly, which sounded a lot like 'It's _Friend-Bear_'.  
"What're you sposed to be, Quasi?"

"The Phantom of the Opera. What about you? Where's your costume?" Wybie replied, almost immune to Alice's sharp tongue by now.

"Apparently I'm the only one with any brains around here. How are we sposed to do our _job_ if we're wearing _capes_?" She popped her chewing gum.

"…I didn't think of that" Bonnie said, putting a hand on her chin.

"Obviously…where's Doug?" Alice asked, taking out her gum as she picked up a merengue.

_**1 hours; 38 minutes; 16 seconds**_

"Loki…I gotta rest" Coraline laughed breathlessly. They'd been dancing for ages, talking occasionally. He seemed a little on edge, and she suspected that he, like Alice, wasn't quite as tough as he looked. He was only fourteen, of course. But he was nice to her, curious about her experience with a Beldam… Godmother…whatever.

"Okay…I need something to drink anyway" He led the way through the crowd, and over to where the drinks were. There were already two girls there, talking amongst themselves – a dark haired pirate, and a blonde ninja. She'd taken off her mask, and both were red faced from dancing.

"Scram" Loki muttered as he approached, and they moved out of the way, looking a little miffed. He handed Coraline a drink, and she thanked him.

Wybie was just reaching over the table to get himself a biscuit when an astronaut appeared next to him. He waved, and Wybie frowned.

"Umm…"

The astronaut said something muffled, then pulled off his helmet.  
"-with a J, not a G!" Wybie laughed a little.

"Well hey…how's it going?" Wybie asked. Jeff pushed his hair off his face and took a deep breath, holding the helmet under one arm.

"Not bad. Enjoying the party. There's a pirate girl over there who's a pretty good dancer, but she won't leave the ninja girl by herself. I was dancing with them both. This suit is so hot-"

"I'll bet"

"So…Phantom of the Opera?"

Loki and Coraline wandered over to where the other Unstitchers were standing, and Wybie and Jeff.

"There you are. We're about to get started" Alice said in a low voice as they approached. Doug had also joined them, wearing big thick rimmed glasses and a white lab coat. He made a very convincing mad scientist.

"Where've you been?" Loki asked, and Doug opened his mouth to reply, but Coraline cut him off.

"R-really? Now?" She asked, and Alice gave her a look.

"I just said that, Windex…do keep up. Quasi, you're- who is that?"

"Jeff" Coraline said with a little scowl. "With a J, not a G"

"…well…get rid of him. We need to get going" Alice hissed. Coraline sighed, and shuffled over to the two boys.

"Hey! Coraline…how's it going?" She flashed him a wide grin.

"Hey Jeff… jeez, it's getting really warm in here, don't you think? I've been dancing too much" She said, fanning her face with her hand. Jeff grinned.

"I can get you a drink if you want?"

"Really? That'd be fantastic. Can you get me some of the lemon stuff?…thanks Jeff"

"Can he get me one too? I can't…hold anything…" Bonnie smiled, showing them her hands. They were all orange fur. Jeff nodded.

"Course…I'll be back in a second" As Jeff disappeared, Wybie turned to Coraline.

"Why couldn't you go get your own drink?"

"Coz Alice needed him out of the way…c'mon, I think we're-"

They all looked up as the music stopped. A man in a smart looking suit stood up on the stage, and he was grinning widely.

"Hello everyone!" he said into the microphone. "I hope we're all having a good time…making new friends…after all, that's one of the best things about these sorts of competitions…meeting new friends, isn't it?" Coraline groaned a little. Awards and speeches normally took forever.

"Well…let's get this over with, so we can all get back to enjoying the night. The first award I'm going to present is to the students who got full marks on one or more tests" He read out a long list of names.

_**1 hour; 04 minutes; 18 seconds**_

"…as soon as we're allowed out, we need to move quickly… got it?" Alice hissed at the others, who nodded in understanding. Coraline was busy thinking on what she had to do for Eve.

'_I don't care how you do it. I need them _all _here. Every. Last. One'_

"Congratulations… now…in third place, I am proud to present a certificate, trophy and $150 for their school to…" Coraline barely even heard the name, because of the cheering and clapping. A girl dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz shuffled onto the stage with a shy smile, accepting her certificate and posing for a few photos. She was soon joined by the person who came second, a cocky looking guy dressed as a zombie, who grinned to his buddies out on the dancefloor.

"And now, it is my greatest pleasure to announce the winner… Claire Paper!"

_Paper?_ Coraline shivered. That was Eve's Claire.

"…Claire? Does anyone know where Claire is?" There was silence. There was a tiny hint of a smirk on Alice's lips, however, and she exchanged a look with Loki.

"Ah…well, never mind. I will personally see to it that Claire gets her prize…thankyou everyone, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your night" He put the microphone down, and the chatter started up again, along with the music. Coraline was lost in her thoughts, playing that awful night in her head again, but Alice wasn't going to let her space out now.

"C'mon, Bluey, _move_" She hissed, giving Coraline a shove. She was snapped out of her daydream, and caught herself.

"Right…sorry" She mumbled. It took her a moment to realise that Doug and Loki were gone. A moment later, the lights went out. Children screamed, and Coraline felt Alice shove her in the back again.

"…Sorry kids… temporary failure in the power… we'll have it up and running in a jiffy!" Said the man with the microphone. All around them, excited whispers started up, and Bonnie took her hand, leading her out of the hall. They slipped out unnoticed, where Doug and Loki were waiting.

"Ready to go?" The devil asked, smirking, and they nodded.

"C'mon…we don't have much time" Alice ushered them into the elevator, and Coraline took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Wybie gave her an 'Are you okay?' look, but he looked worse than she did. Like he was going to faint, or throw up. Possibly both. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed it, which seemed to reassure him a little. The elevator stopped at their floor, and they headed off.

_**00 hours; 34 minutes; 29 seconds**_

"Bonnie, you're at that end… Loki, Doug, your stuff's in that cupboard, Windex, you're to stay here… c'mon Quasi" Alice muttered, heading down the hallway with the rest of the Unstitchers behind her. Wybie went to follow, but Coraline didn't let his hand go.

"…Wybie…" She wasn't sure what she was trying to tell him. He gave her a little smile.

"S'gonna be fine, Jonesy…I promise" He said, squeezing her hand. She just stared at him. It occurred to her that this might be the last time she saw him alive, and threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her back tightly.

"Be careful" She said, letting her arms drop. He nodded.

"_Quasi!_ Get your ass moving!" Alice growled, and Wybie smiled weakly at Coraline before taking off after them. They rounded the corner, and she was suddenly alone. The hallway was quiet, and she felt her breath catch in her throat, like she was going to start crying.

Loki came back a moment later, holding two white masks and a handful of black cloth. He smiled at her.

"Put this on…there's mirrors everywhere, and we don't want her knowing what you look like"

"Why not?" Coraline asked, taking off her hat so she could put in on.

"Well, if we ever need to come back, then she can't know who we are" He explained. She nodded, and looked at all the cloth.

"Then what's that for?"

"Alice wants me and Doug to black out all the mirrors. There's so many on this floor it's not funny..." They fell into a silence, and he gave her a small smile.  
"…if anything happens, I'll be right down this hallway, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he turned around the corner, pulling his own mask over his face.

The waiting part was killing her. Was Wybie with Alice? Had they met Eve yet? Was he…

_**00 hours; 28 minutes; 06 seconds**_

She turned on her heel, and tore down the hallway as quickly as she could. She ran past the dumbwaiter and around the corner to where Bonnie was. The redhead turned around, and Coraline jumped a little at the white mask.

"What's the matter?" Bonnie asked, eyes wide.

"Something happened…you need to get down there" Coraline told her. She'd gotten the idea from Claire.

"What! Why? What's happened?" She asked, and Coraline just gave her a pleading look.

"I don't know! But Alice needs your help!" Bonnie nodded, and bolted down the hallway. Coraline followed her, and watched as she opened the dumbwaiter and vanished from sight with a little scream.

Coraline nodded to herself, and went to find Doug. He was standing on tiptoes, draping black cloth over a particularly large mirror. He'd abandoned his white lab coat, and glasses for the mask.

"Doug?" Coraline hissed, and he turned around.

"What're you doing! You're sposed to be keeping watch!" He hissed back.

"S-something…went wrong" She said, and the scowl slid from his face.

"What do you mean, 'something went wrong'… it was planned perfectly…" He sounded worried. "It can't have gone wrong"

"I don't know, but Alice needs you down there _now_" Coraline told him.

"But it doesn't make sense-"

"_Doug!_ She needs us all down there, like, now! I think… Claire might have managed to get some information across" Doug looked conflicted, and Coraline took a few steps towards the dumbwaiter.  
"_Please_?"

"…is anyone hurt?" Doug asked, taking a few steps towards her.

"I don't think so…but she needs you guys, I've never done this before, I'm pretty much useless"

"…that's true. Okay, fine, c'mon" She bit back a snappy retort, and they moved towards the dumbwaiter.

"Bonnie's gone down there already… I'm just about to go and get Loki… tell her that we'll be down in a minute" Coraline said, and Doug climbed into the dumbwaiter, holding on tight. He frowned.

"…how did they tell you that something was wrong if they're-" She pried his fingers loose from the lip of the opening, and he fell, shouting something. She stood there for a moment, before taking a deep breath. Loki wasn't going to come along quietly.

_**00 hours; 21 minutes; 53 seconds**_

Coraline's footsteps were silent as she tiptoed down the hallway, scooping up her witches broom as she passed.

"…Loki?" She called, and he turned around. All the mirrors were covered in black cloth, and he was just fixing the last one. He turned around, pulling off his mask.

"Coraline? What's wrong? You're supposed to be keeping watch" He said, approaching her. She just gripped the broom tighter.

"I was…but I- I heard someone scream, and- something went wrong, Loki, they're in trouble" She was definitely putting a lot more effort in with him.

Loki, to her surprise, just put an arm around her shoulders.

"Alice has been doing this for ages, she knows what to do" He said, reassuringly.

"No, Loki…this isn't a normal beldam… she's the _Queen_…and Wybie's down there too… I don't want them getting hurt…" She replied, shrugging his arm off her shoulder and turning to face him. He put both hands on her shoulders.

"Alice…will look after him…okay?"

"No! You need to…to go down there and bring them back up here!" She cried, stamping her foot like a spoiled brat.  
"Before it's too late!"

"I can't… I've got to do what I was told to do, and Alice can handle herself" He told her. She could feel tears stinging the back of her eyes. He wasn't going to move, Eve wouldn't have them all… Wybie could _die_.

"Loki…please" She said, voice cracking a little. He frowned a bit, and hugged her.

"The first one is hard… but you get used to it… it'll all be fine… now, if you go back to your spot, I'll finish up this mirror and keep you company" He turned away, and left her standing there. She could feel her temper rising, and raised her broom, smacking him across the back of the head with it. If he wouldn't go willingly, she'd drag his unconscious ass down there herself.

As it was, this was no movie. Loki did not fall unconscious. He didn't even seem concussed. Just pissed off. He spun on the spot, a hand on the back of his head and a look of outrage on his face.

"What the _hell_!" He growled. She didn't say anything. "What did you do that-"

Coraline launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips firmly to his. He was still for a moment, before taking a few steps backwards.

"Umm…" Coraline's face was bright red, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "I-"

"…what…the hell…is wrong with you?" He asked slowly, and she didn't say anything, but gripped the handle of the broom tightly. His eyes narrowed a little in suspicion, and in a moment of panic, Coraline swung the broom into his stomach.

"Friggen- Coraline!" Loki growled, as he tripped on his own tail. He grabbed the black fabric on the mirror to stop himself from falling. It caught on the corner, and pulled the mirror down on top of him. Coraline yelped and jumped out of the way, her hands over her mouth in horror as he fell to the ground, and it fell on top of him, showering him with glass.

"…Loki?" She whispered. He didn't make a sound. "Oh my god" She pulled the mirror off him, careful not to cut her hands on all the glass. She leaned it up against the wall, and pulled him up.

"Loki?" She repeated. He had a couple of little cuts on his face, but he wasn't dead. Unconscious… what luck. She dragged him down the hallway (he was pretty heavy for a kid) and stopped at the dumbwaiter to rest for a moment. Loki stirred.

"…ow" Coraline pulled him to his feet and tried to get him into the little opening. He mumbled and groaned a little, but Coraline eventually had him going down the chute headfirst. She winced a little, climbing in afterwards. She took a deep breath, and let go, feeling that now familiar rushing feeling.

She couldn't escape that nagging feeling that Wybie was dead, and that she was too late.

_**00 hours; 00 minutes; 00 seconds**_

**A/N;**

**Hello fandom.  
Terribly sorry about the delay. I worked really super hard today to finish this for you, and I hope you all enjoy it.  
ANYWAY!**

**FUN FACT;**  
**If Unstitchers was a movie… which we're sad to inform you, it isn't, these would be the voices behind the characters!**

**Eve;**

**_Michelle Pfeiffer  
_Cain; _Jeremy Irons  
_Abel; _Patrick Warburton  
_Alice; _Chloe Moretz_  
Loki; _?_  
Doug; _?_  
Bonnie; _Kristen Schaal_  
Claire; _Evanna Lynch_**

**If you don't know who they are, just go onto IMDB and type in their names. And your question for this chapter, dear readers, is who would you cast as Loki and Doug? Coz we're honestly not sure.  
And a big thankyou for all the reviews we've been getting. It really motivates us to write when we get all those emails. And a special thankyou to those who've either done or promised fanart – like wow. MUCH LOVE.**

**Until the next, exciting chapter…**  
**Stay Shiny**  
**xx Knut.**


	13. William Shakespeare

_**Disclaimer; We own nothing~**_

**Thirteen- "**_If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? … And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"_**  
~ **William Shakespeare

It was too fast. She was falling too fast. Panic began to constrict at Coraline's chest as the window of light approached. She tried to reach for it and nearly caught it with her fingertips but it was torn from her grasp, as if something was yanking on her foot. She screamed, and kept falling.

xXx

Loki awoke with a start, scrambling to his feet as fast as he could. He glanced around him; no sign of Coraline. His head throbbed, and when he touched the part that hurt his fingers came away sticky with blood. With sheer panic making it difficult to think properly, he tried to figure out where he was. It looked kind of like a kitchen; a kitchen made of gold, and everywhere things were boiling, baking and searing in their pots which seemed to be stirring themselves.

Without even thinking, he whirled around and tried to open the dumb-waiter again. It was jammed closed. The panic began to rise.

"No... _no... _n-"

At the sound of a silvery laugh from behind him, he froze. He slowly turned on the spot. The door on the opposite side of the room was ajar, and in through it streamed a brilliant golden light. He thought he could make out voices coming from the other side, so he cautiously, ever so slowly approached the door. Holding his breath, he peered around it.

What he saw made him break a cold sweat. On the other side was an elaborate dining room; a long table laden with what could only be described as a feast. And at the table, still and wide-eyed with terror, sat Bonnie, Doug, Wybie and Alice. Loki's heart was in his mouth. They weren't all supposed to be there! What the hell had happened?

Well whatever it was- he wasn't going to hang around to find out. He took a slow step backwards. Then he felt an iron grip on his shoulder. The thing behind him leaned down to purr in his ear.

"How lovely of you to join us, dear."

xXx

"Well, have a seat now." The woman who had sat herself at the end of the table gave Loki a sweet smile. He couldn't help but stare. She was nothing less than stunning, in an elaborate ball gown of black lace and satin. In her gold hair she wore a black tiara. This was her; the queen mother beldam. "Do you want all the food to get cold?"

Alice also looked up at him. "Loki? Sit down already." she took a deep breath. "This is Eve."

Jerked out of his terror-induced paralysis, Loki stiffly drew out the chair beside Alice and slid into it, wiping his clammy palms on his jeans. "That's better." said Eve with another little smile. "We can get started now. I must say it's so lovely of all of you to come and join me for supper. I was going to have a very quiet night you know, what with so many children at that party..."

Loki exchanged a look with Alice, and his shaking hand found hers under the table. She squeezed it once. The plan was still on.

"It's so nice of you to have us..." Alice replied politely. Loki almost believed himself that she was just another clueless child being drawn into the trap.

"Oh darling, it's my pleasure." Eve's smile turned sickly, and she rested a hand on Alice's. As good an actress as she was, Alice couldn't prevent her muscles stiffening. Still she gave the monster a sweet smile. Loki couldn't help but be impressed. From the kitchen issued the sound of a bell. "Oh!" the beldam stood up, and Loki caught the glimpse of a striped stocking under the dress. "That'll be the pie. Excuse me just one moment." with that, she swept out of the room. Alice waited a moment or two after Eve had left to speak.

"Why aren't you where I left you?" she murmured.

"Coraline. Cut my head open." Loki replied, equally soft.

"What a bitch."

"She tricked us too." said Bonnie, her voice very small.

"Wait, guys-" Wybie had gone incredibly pale. "It can't have been her- maybe the beldam made a copy or something, or possessed her..."

"It doesn't matter now." Alice said shortly, turning to Wybie. "You gotta split, Quasi. Quick, before wicked witch comes back. The plan's still going ahead."

"Right." Wybie gulped, like he was trying to suppress his terror. He stood, as quietly as he could, and Alice followed suit.

"Remember," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him hard in the eye. "Find her sewing room. That's where the buttons will be. I'll follow as soon as I can." she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Right." he repeated, reeling "Sewing room. Right..."

"Scram."

xXx

It was very dark where Coraline woke up. She scrambled to her feet, horrified. She'd missed the opening. She didn't know where she was. The stones underneath her feet were cold, and the only light getting into the room was from high, high above; so high up she couldn't even see where it came from. It felt like she was in a dungeon...

Panic gripped her heart, making it difficult to think. Who knew how long it had been. Wybie was probably dead already.

Coraline ran to the only door she could see, a stout little wooden one with bars across the window- She _was_in a dungeon! She was in a dungeon and Wybie could be dead.

"HELLO?" she screamed through the bars. She had to get out. "LET ME OUT!" She yanked on the bars, trying in vain to get the door to move. She pulled so hard at the grating that some of her nails broke and started to bleed. "LET M-"

The door slammed inwards, knocking her to the floor. Winded, she tried to sit up. Squinting into the sudden light, she managed to make out two large, dark shapes in the doorway.

"Coraline."

"Abel?" She only barely recognised his voice. It sounded far lower and more croaky than it had before. Coraline shielded her eyes. She couldn't see their faces properly. They stood so very still...

"Coraline, Eve wants to thank you for all the hard work you've done." Cain's voice was different too. It was a hiss, like it hurt him to talk. Like someone had cleaned his throat out with bleach, leaving it red and raw. "But your services are no longer required."

"We've been asked to respectfully escort you back to your hotel room." The shape that was Abel stepped forward to help her to her feet. The hand that grasped hers was slimy.

"Wait!" she withdrew her hand immediately, wiping it on her skirt. "I'm not leaving 'til I find Wybie."

"We've been asked to respectfully escort you-"

"WHERE IS HE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?" Coraline screamed.

"We have been given permission to take you by force." From his belt Cain produced something long and jagged. Coraline's blood froze in her veins. "Eve wants to thank you for all your hard work," he grew slowly closer to her, "but your services are no longer required..."

The tears really began to flow now as she backed away from them. "You can't..."

Suddenly from behind them, a harsh yowl made them turn. Coraline seized the chance to escape, pushing between them and bolting out the doorway before they had time to recover. The air burned her lungs as she ran, following the small dark shape that darted in and out of the pools of light cast by the windows high above. As she ran, the mirrors flashed by.

xXx

Wybie had only just ducked out when Eve returned, carrying a steaming pie in yellow-laced oven mitts. "I saved it." she addressed them all with a smile which widened, as each child fought to return it.

She served it up, laying a thick slice on each plate as she kept up the light banter with Alice. As they cautiously ate, she asked them each where they were from, how they were finding Chicago, what their favourite part of the test had been so far. It was when Alice, feigning innocence, asked what Eve was exactly, that Bonnie screamed.

All eyes turned to her as she, with a shaking hand, picked something out of her pie. A red collar with a bell on it.

"Oh," sighed Eve. "So sorry. I thought I'd picked them all out." her lips curved into a smirk. "I hope I haven't put you all off your food..."

Loki violently stood, knocking his chair to the ground, his face paling and Doug sank into his, murmuring an "Oh God..." They knew now where their cats had disappeared to. Alice's hands were shaking and tears rolled down her ashen cheeks.

"You bitch... you evil bitch..."

"Oh Alice. Dear Alice." Eve sang. " Name calling? I thought you were more _mature _than that. You should know better." She turned briefly to Loki and snapped; "_Sit down._" At her command the windows shook a little and Loki, trembling, took his seat. She turned to them all, standing.

"You should _all _know better." Something was changing. The stripes of her tights were spreading all over her body. "Really, children. Did you honestly think a couple of masks and some black fabric would be enough to fool me? Did you really think it would be as easy as that, even if I _hadn't _been forewarned about you all? Just _who _exactly did you think you were dealing with?" The Unstitchers shrank back in their seats, silent. Her body was slowly changing as she grew more and more angry. A pair of paper thin wings had sprouted from her shoulder blades, and her eyes had gained a slant to them.

"There is a _reason _that of all my sisters, _I_ was chosen as the queen. _I_, who alone established this realm, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago and have defended it unrefuted since. _I, _who did battle with the Corinthian for the right to my throne and _won._.. and you thought _you _had a chance?" She threw her head back and laughed a silvery laugh. "You're _nothing." _Her dress was gathering into a bunch behind her, morphing into something resembling an abdomen, with a long, cruelly curved stinger on the end. She smirked.

"You're just _children_. Four bad, _bad _children. And it's high time someone put you to sleep."

xXx

Eventually the shouts from behind her faded away, and Coraline slowed down, panting heavily. The dark shape ahead of her also slowed to a halt, waiting for Coraline to catch up. It's big blue eyes flashed in the darkness. She knelt before it, and pulled the dark-furred creature into her arms. "It's good to see you, Cat."

"I swear, I can't leave you alone for more than two minutes without you getting into some sort of jeopardy..." he said, nuzzling her. "You must be careful Coraline..."

"What was with Cain and Abel?" she demanded angrily. "I thought they were sposed to be the good guys!"

Cat made something of a grimace. "They're... _enthusiastic_. They tend to take things a little to far..."

"_They tried to kill me!_"

"Coraline, now really isn't the time..." He lay a paw on her mouth to shush her. "You've got to get Wybie out of here as soon as you can. Eve may have taken a liking to you, but as far as she's concerned, Wybie was still one of the ones planning to kill her..."

"He's still alive?" her knees felt weak with relief.

"He was when I left him. Now you need to get to the surface." he started off again, and she stumbled after him, looking around at the dark corridors.

"Where _are _we, anyway?"

"This is the labyrinth. Eve calls it her _oubliette_..."

"What does that mean?"

"A place where you put things... to forget about them. You don't want to know half of what she's keeping down here, Coraline."

She shivered. "How do we get out?"

"Here." He produced something short and cylindrical seemingly from thin air and offered it to her. A stick of lipstick. "Draw a door on one of the mirrors with this, thinking about where you want to go." She took it with a short nod. "One more thing Coraline, and I can't stress this enough... don't eat anything. Nothing, no matter how small it is." She gave another short nod. "Alright... good luck." And with a swish of his tail, he was gone.

She turned to the nearest mirror and raised the stick of lipstick.

_Please take me where he is. Please let him be safe. It was my fault he's even here. Please just take me to Wybie. Please let him be okay- I can't go home without him._

xXx

Wybie had at last found the sewing room and was turning it upside down, looking for the buttons. He looked in every chest of drawers, every box, every bag. They were nowhere to be found. Still he kept looking, fighting down the panic. He couldn't believe what he was doing. Alice hadn't arrived yet, which had made it worse.

It was a few more minutes before he heard the footsteps outside the door. The click-clack of high heels. Panic stricken, he shut himself in the nearest cupboard, trying not to breathe or cry.

He heard her humming softly to herself as she bustled around the room. He barely had time to steel himself when the door swung open, and her lovely face appeared before his. She wasn't wearing the ball gown anymore- just a robe of black and gold satin, and her hair was in curlers.

"Lookie what we have here." she said, delightedly.

"Eve... I got lost..." he stammered.

"Of course, darling. No one's in trouble. In fact, you look _famished. _Why don't you come back to the table and have a little something before bed time, hmmm?"

"Oh... I-"

He was cut off by the blue light that was bursting from the mirror on the wall, as if someone was drawing a circle on the other side. When the two ends of the circle connected, it was like a doorway had been created into the room beyond, and a girl tumbled through.

"Coraline!" Wybie looked horror-struck. "They said you'd-" He was cut off when she catapulted into his arms, planting a firm kiss on his lips.

"Coraline?" Eve's voice climbed a couple octaves in astonishment. "What on earth are you still doing here?"

Coraline pulled away from the shocked, confused and scared boy beside her, still keeping a tight hold on his hand. "Just... making sure Wybie gets home okay..."

Eve's mouth twisted a little, just imperceptibly, before she gave them another warm smile. "Of course, and here he is, both eyes still in his head just as I promised."

"Thank you."

"What? She knew- _What_?" Wybie looked on the verge of a breakdown, unable to process the scene that was unfolding before him, and more than a little shocked at Coraline's actions. She leaned in to his ear to whisper;

"_Stay calm, play along, and don't ruin everything." _Before adding, to Eve, "And the others?" her expression a little uncertain. Eve gave an amused smile, like she was reflecting on a private joke.

"You can look, if you like..." she said, leading them out of the room, and back into the dining room. Coraline followed cautiously, hand still tight in Wybie's. The table had been cleared, but all the Unstitchers still sat in their seats. Their heads rested on their arms, blissfully asleep. Coraline couldn't help a smile of relief. She'd been half expecting Eve to have punished them in some awful way. Wybie looked confused, too.

"They're sleeping..." he said, before throwing Coraline a 'please tell me what is going on, I'm so confused' look.

"Like babies." Eve agreed with a tinkly little laugh. "they must have worn themselves out. But soon they should wake up... and wake up... and wake up..." She turned to the two of them again. "Now can I interest you two in anything before you go? A muffin? A cookie? … Some pie?"

"No thank you." Coraline said firmly, remembering Cat's words. "We'd just like to go home now."

Eve fixed her with a long look before sighing. "Alright. But here, I have a gift for you to take home... I thought you might find it... well, " She reached inside her robe for a chain, and found a little black key, with a head the shape of a button. Coraline's breath caught, and Wybie's hand tightened on hers as he, too, recognised it. Eve unclasped the chain and gently folded the key into Coraline's hand. Coraline couldn't do anything but stare at it, stunned and thrown off-guard. "Someone deserves an apology, don't you think?"

"How did you... get it?"

Eve gave her a winsome smile. "Food for thought."

xXx

When Alice woke up, the others were just starting to do the same. "What happened?" Bonnie asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't know..." Alice replied, looking around for any sign of Eve. The woman was nowhere to be seen... But that didn't make any sense... "We should find a way out of here before she comes back..."

"Oh no, Alice." At the hiss that split the air she whirled around to face her friends. All of them had fangs sprouting from their mouths, and black buttons for eyes. She froze with terror, as they started crawling across the table towards her. "You're never going to leave this place..."

**Alice woke with a start, back in the dining room. She turned around to the others, who were slowly awaking themselves, all looking very confused. "I just had the freakiest dream..." she said, turning to face Loki. She screamed- his face was melting off; features blurring and distorting in a horrible grin.**

**"What was it about, Alice?"**

_When Alice woke in a cold sweat, she was alone. Confused, she was about to call out for the others when her own mother bustled through the doorway. "Alice! You're awake!" She had a cake in her hands- a chocolate-toffee cake. Alice's favourite. It was lined with candles. "Happy Birthday sweetie! I'm so proud of you!"_

_When her mother's head fell off into the cake, Alice tried to scream but she couldn't seem to make a sound. Her mother's head just smiled at her from on top of the cake. "What's wrong sweetie?"_

Alice woke up at the table, rubbing her eyes. "Guys you're not gonna believe the dream I had..."

* * *

**A/N: We're back! Sorry about the lateness. You have every right to shoot me *ducks behind table as bullets fly* Um... So yeah. Climax! Yay! Hope it didn't disappoint... It got a little weird at the end there, I know, but hopefully not too confusing...**

**Fun fact; You might have noticed in the last chapter that we gave Claire a last name; Paper. No this was not, in fact, a random choice! We named her Paper after paper streets and towns- named so because they only exist on paper. They usually happen when building is planned but never goes ahead. In any case, Claire's last name was Paper for the same reason; she only exists on paper. We thought that was clever =P**

**Aside: Those of you who are hard-core Neil Gaiman fans might recognise a couple references; the first to the Corinthian, his tooth-eyed nightmare from the Sandman comics. The second, also from Sandman is to what he calls 'Eternal Waking' which is pretty much what Alice has a bad case of in the last section there... Oh, and dotted through are a couple references to that 80s gem Labyrinth, too, just for fun =P [**Edit: Also Pan's Labyrinth, which I forgot to mention before. Snaps to WybiE'z KidNapPer for pointing it out.**]**

**Again, we hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
Stay shiny and do review!  
CANDY**


	14. Orson Welles

**Disclaimer; For the last time… neither CANDY or KnutCase own Coraline. However, we hope you have enjoyed what we've been able to do with the characters, and would like to thank you for reading_ Unstitchers. _**

**Fourteen; **_'If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story'  
_~ Orson Welles

xXx

Wybie was rocking back and forth on his feet, leaning on his packed suitcase so he didn't fall over. After the ordeal of last night, he was positively exhausted. They'd both woken up, snug in their beds, even though Coraline hadn't really said anything to him. She must have been embarrassed about kissing him. The idea of it brought a slight blush to his cheeks.

"Are we ready to go? Come on, Coraline, we've got a plane to catch!" Charlie muttered, checking the rooms last minute for anything they might have left behind. Coraline pulled her suitcase behind her, stifling a yawn. Her eyes briefly met Wybie's before she went fishing around in her backpack for something… her iPod. So she was going to ignore him the whole way home. Wybie decided then and there that he didn't understand girls. Not one bit.

They rode the elevator down to the ground floor, and stepped out. The lobby was full of excited, chattering kids saying goodbyes, and parents fretting over taxis, and an assortment of different suitcases. In different colours and shapes – Wybie could have curled up in a few of them quite comfortably, they were so big. The other Unstitchers were nowhere to be seen.

"Wybie! Coraline!" They turned to see Jeff, with a J not a G. He grinned. "You going home now too?"

"Yeah. Although our plane doesn't really leave for ages" Wybie replied. Coraline stayed quiet, leaving one headphone out, and the other in.

"Awesome. Hey listen, we should keep in touch. Do you have an email address?"

"Sure. It's … um… Lovat_Or_Hate_It-"

"Lovat or hate it?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow, and Wybie just looked at Coraline, who was smirking while looking down at the screen of her iPod, face half hidden by her hair.

"…Yeah. Jonesy made it for me" He mumbled, and Jeff laughed.

"Okay then… mine is…" Charlie grew very impatient with them, and Wybie could tell. When Jeff gave him the little slip of paper, he said his goodbyes quickly, and they were rushed out the door, and into the taxi.

xXx

The airport was crowded and busy, and Charlie was freaking out. Wybie and Coraline were sitting at a table sharing a bowl of chips while he paced around the food court trying to calm himself down.

"Nearly time, kids, nearly time…" he muttered.

"…Jonesy" Wybie said quietly, and she hesitated before looking up shyly.

"Yes?"

"…Are you gonna tell me what the hell happened last night? With the beldam?" he asked quietly, and she looked away.

"What do you mean? You were there" She said, dipping her chips in sauce. She wasn't going to bother correcting him on the name.

"How did she know you? Why did you _send them down there_?" he hissed, and she seemed to flinch a little.

"Okay, look… they were gonna kill you, so I had to-"

"What? No they weren't! They were gonna kill _her_" He said, and she shook her head, eyes filling.

"Wybie- please be quiet-"

"Jonesy, how could you do all this without _telling_ me?" he asked, and she just looked at him, her lip trembling, just a little bit.

"I don't-… I don't know…who was right…Wybie, I don't know _who_ to trust anymore…" she whispered. Wybie gave her a look, his face softening a little, and he gently took her hand.

"…You can trust me" He said quietly, sincerely. "Always"

Coraline met his gaze, feeling a few tears spill over onto her cheeks, a little smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She could trust him. He was the one thing she was sure of.

"…thankyou" She said, leaning across the table and gently pressing her lips to his cheek. Wybie felt his face grow warm, and held her hand tighter.

"I'd do…anything for you, Jonesy" he said, and she smiled sadly.

"I know. But sewing buttons into your eyes was a bit extreme"

"How did you know about that? And how did you know about the Queen?" He sat up a little straighter. Coraline sighed.

"It's a long story"

"We've got a whole plane ride…"

xXx

"You kids alright there?" Charlie asked, leaning forward so he could talk to the two of them in the seats in front of him.

"We're fine, Dad" Coraline replied, a little annoyed. Wybie was impatient beside her, itching to hear the story.

"Well… if you need anything, just say so, okay?"

Their conversation was cut off by the plane starting up, and they were told by a flight attendant to please sit back while the crew went through safety procedures. Coraline tuned out, thinking over the past few days. She'd had quite the adventure, met the Queen of the Beld- Godmothers. She felt the weight of the thick black key around her neck, the cold metal against her skin.

Her stomach dropped uncomfortably as the plane lifted off the ground. Within ten minutes, Charlie had slipped into a fitful sleep, muttering to himself, and Wybie was looking at Coraline with wide, expectant eyes.

"Okay. Spill" He said, and she rolled her eyes.

"You know that day…after the tests, we went into town?" Coraline began. She felt that it was appropriate to begin here, because it was when things started acting up.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"And there was the snake show?"

"Yeah. There's photos and stuff of all the snakes" Wybie said with a little frown. He didn't understand what this had to do with anything.

"Well, you know that one snake… green, with the yellow eyes? It was one of her, um, sons. That's when the weirdness really started."

"The Queen Beldam has sons?"

"Yeah, two. You didn't meet Cain and Abel?" Coraline asked.

"No, and you did?"

"Yeah. They were rather nice, too, at first."

"At first? You know, Jonesy, you suck at explaining things" Wybie told her, and she felt a little smile tug at the corner of her lips.

"Okay, so…the night the Unstitchers told you that…they were gonna need your eyes…Claire took me down to see the Queen-"

"Claire? But she was a spy"

"She was one of Eve's dolls. Almost like a daughter. You should have heard her the night Claire died…" Coraline's voice had dropped to a whisper. She looked down at her arms – they were covered in goosebumps.

Wybie looked at Coraline for a moment, before hesitantly threading his fingers through hers. She smiled, squeezing his hand.

"What happened when you were down there? The first time?" He asked, and she sighed.

"Well, Eve introduced herself, and told me stuff. A lot of stuff. About how she wasn't a beldam, that none of them are. They're Godmothers…they give you what you want, but only in dreams"

Wybie had a blank little look on his face.

"…what? Godmothers? Like, a Fairy Godmother?" He frowned. "I don't believe that"

"I didn't either, in the beginning. But then she showed me everything… how she goes about doing things in the hotel…"

"That doesn't explain-" Coraline shot him a look, and he fell silent.

"We're not gonna get anywhere if you keep interrupting" she told him, adjusting herself in the seat. He smiled apologetically, and she continued.

"Anyway. She showed me what she did – granting the wishes of children in the hotel. We got to this big hall, and in it was a dragon-"

"A _what_?" He frowned, sitting around. Coraline's eyes were bright as she nodded.

"A dragon. See, that was Cain. He was big and green, with a sword sticking out of his tummy. When Eve pulled it out, there was sawdust coming out of the wound, instead of blood. He told me that he was her son, and that he played the villain in all the dreams. One of the kids had slayed him, and saved the damsel…that was Claire, I think" Coraline was chattering to herself now.

"Okay. And the other son?"

"His name is Abel. He's a lot clumsier, and him and Cain are always fighting. But yes…they help Eve with the dreams. So, we sat down at her big table, and she explained what she does, and that, um… the Unstitchers were going to kill you"

"They weren't, though" Wybie protested. "They just told me that I had to give up one of my eyes…"

"Okay, first, once you gave up your eye, it would have killed you. She was _going to kill you_. Each Bel…Godmother has a certain amount of black buttons, and she uses them to make the dolls come to life. Now… if you sew one of those buttons into a _humans_ eye, that part of the Godmother dies…along with the kid. So even if you _did _die….Eve would still have buttons left."

Wybie looked at her, slightly horrified.

"…and, uh…second?"

"_Second,_" Coraline said, her attitude coming through. "Why in God's name would you _let them sew a button in your bloody eye to begin with!_"

"Well, it was either they sew a button in _my_ eyes… or they sewed them in yours. And I didn't want them sewing buttons in yours" He said firmly, holding her gaze until she looked down with a soft blush.

"You didn't have to do that for me" she mumbled. He shook his head with a small smile.

"Yes I did" He told her. "Like I was gonna let them do it to you"

"…Wybie…" She said, not knowing exactly what to say. He just flashed her a cheesy smile.

"Anyway. They were sewing buttons in my eyes?"

"Yes. Right" She gave a short nod, trying to remember what she'd been saying. "Um..oh. So the Unstitchers got it right, about how to kill Eve, and she didn't want that. And I didn't want you to die, so we kinda…teamed up. She told me I needed to get everyone down there the night they were gonna do it…and I woke up in my bed the next morning."

She paused for a moment, remembering the next part of the story.

"Right…um. The night Claire was murdered, I took her glass eye – it was a glass eye, see – anyway, I took it down the dumbwaiter, and gave it to Eve. She…she flipped out. The whole hotel was filled with this angry buzzing, and I could hear it as I went to sleep. I kinda felt sorry for her, but…I was scared of her at the same time"

"Did she hurt you or anything?" Wybie asked, and she shook her head.

"Nope. She never hurt me" Coraline smiled gently. "Unless you count that she locked me up in the dungeon when I came down to get you"

"What?"

"Yeah, Cain and Abel attacked me. If it wasn't for Cat, I probably wouldn't be here" Wybie was looking confused again.

"…Cat? Our Cat?"

"Yeah. I don't know how he got there, but you know. He's a cat. They can walk through dreams or something" Coraline shrugged. "Nothing he does surprises me anymore"

"Fair enough"

"So yeah, you know the events of last night… and…that brings us to now" Coraline finished up, and Wybie chewed over what she'd said.

"So wait. If Beldams _don't_ lure and eat children, then what happened with yours?" He asked, and she pulled the key out of her shirt.

"She…uh…" Coraline wasn't sure how to put this. "She gave me what I needed, instead of what I wanted"

"…Huh?" She gritted her teeth.

"I was a little…_brat_…Wybie, and she did all of that as a wake-up call" She mumbled. Wybie gave her a gentle look.

"You're not a brat…" She laughed softly, but coldly.

"Are you kidding? I was a right brat back then. I wasn't ever happy with…anything, really. I hated the new house, and I hated my parents…kinda… they never really paid any attention to me, coz they were always working…" She said, and he played with the zipper on his jacket.

"Well…you were a bit…mean" He said quietly, and she looked out the window so she wouldn't have to look him in the eyes.

"You called me a jerkwad…and a psycho nerd. And Why-Were-You-Born. And you punched me a lot, too…"

"Okay…"

"And the first time I was in your house you chased me out, throwing your shoes at me"

"Yes, Wybie, I get it." She said through gritted teeth.

"Hey, if we're still friends after that, you can't be that bad, can you?" He offered, and she looked at him again. She couldn't help but crack a wide smile at the apologetic puppy dog face.

"Gee, thanks" She grinned playfully.

"You're welcome!" He grinned back.

xXx

The taxi pulled into the long driveway that led to the Pink Palace apartments. Coraline had never been happier to see that awful, ugly building, and neither had Wybie. Waiting on the steps, holding a big black umbrella was Mel, smiling as the car got closer, and beside her was old Mrs. Lovat. The car stopped, and the door flew open. Coraline gave her mum a big hug around the waist, and Wybie hugged his grandmother, a little gentler.

"How'd you go?" Mel asked, and Coraline started gushing about how amazing Chicago had been, and how it was so very big, and how the hotel beds were huge. She chattered away as Charlie brought in the suitcases before kissing his wife on the cheek.

"Um…Jonesy, I'll see you later, kay?" Wybie said, taking his suitcase. She nodded, and hugged him tightly around the neck.

"See you later" She replied, and he grinned, hugging her around the waist. Then he walked home with his grandmother, both talking quietly.

"How did you go on the tests?" Mel asked, fixing up something for her daughter and husband to eat.

"Oh…yeah. Good" She said, having forgotten about them.

"That's good. It's been so quiet around here for the last week. Just me, and that cat of yours. He kept me company every now and again" Mel smiled.

Coraline turned to see Cat sitting on the window sill. He yowled at her, and she just sighed a little sigh.

_I give up trying to work you out,_ it said. He just blinked his big blue eyes at her.

_It's probably wise_. She patted his head while he purred with amusement.

**xXx**

_~Two weeks later~_

Coraline was stretched out on her bed working on an English essay, while Wybie sat at her desk, fixing up her iTunes. Cat was beside Coraline, belly up and purring.

"How do you manage to have three of the same song?" Wybie asked, and she shrugged, which was awkward considering she was on her stomach.

"It just happens. I get a lot of music from a lot of people. Sometimes I get doubles" She said, and he sighed.

"It's a mess, Jonesy. Some of them don't even have names"

"Well, I'm sorry, but-"

"_Coraline!_" They both looked to the door. The girl rolled off the bed and went to the door.

"Be back in a moment"

Coraline ran down the stairs to see her mum and dad sitting at the kitchen table, an open envelope between them.

"Yeah?"

"…your results for the tests just arrived"

She felt her stomach drop, and looked a little sheepish.

"…Really? Great…"

Charlie picked up the papers and read one of the questions out loud. Then he looked at her.

"You answered with... 'home-made pie'…"

"It was a difficult question" Coraline said, and Mel pursed her lips, and took the papers from her husband.

"You were in the bottom 25%. You got sent all the way to Chicago because of your maths abilities, and you mess it up?"

"I _hate_ maths. It's my worst subject, and I don't know _why _they sent me to that stupid thing" Coraline whined, crossing her arms.

"Yes, but _really_, Coraline? Pie?" Charlie sighed, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

A tiny little smile tugged at Coraline's lips.

xXx

**A/N;  
So, wow. This is the last chapter of Unstitchers. Well, official chapter.**

**My goodness, I'm getting all teary-eyed… are you?**  
**Now, don't get all sappy on me…**  
**;n;**

**We would like to personally thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, story alerted, drew fanart and just generally enjoyed the Unstitchers. I mean, the both of us have enjoyed it immensely, and we hope that you did too.**

**FUNFACT; It's taken us exactly 9 months and 10 days to write this fanfic. In that 9 months, both of us have had a birthday, we cracked 100 reviews (On Knut's birthday, thankyou very much for that), we got our very first piece of fanart, and then some more. During that time, we both got tumblr accounts (You can find the URLs on our profile), made a new group of friends, have both dyed our hair, Knut began her final year of school, and CANDY started her first year of university. We finished watching Castle, and Supernatural, and both got brand new iPods. Let's just say this has been a big year. **

**We honestly never thought that we'd write such a popular, amazing story. It was just an idea that popped into CANDY's head one day at the bus stop, and Knut wanted in. And here we are, 9 months and 10 days since the first chapter popped up on Fanfiction . net. **

**We look forward to seeing you for the next KnutCANDY fanfic. **

**Much love.  
Please, stay shiny forever and always.  
KnutCase and CANDYisEpic**

**xx**


	15. Epilogue

**Unstitchers  
**__we will be here when you fall__

**Epilogue; **_'Kind words can unlock an iron door'  
~ _Turkish Proverb.

xXx

Coraline sat on her bed, staring at her music box. Tucked away, safely inside it was the key Eve had given her. She hadn't quite worked up the nerve to open the door just yet, but she knew she couldn't put it off forever. She felt weight on the bed beside her, and turned to see Cat. He blinked his big blue eyes, and flicked his tail.

"Hello you" She smiled, stroking his head. He twitched his whiskers.

"I know… I know" She sighed. "I'll do it today"

Cat gently headbutted her.

"You probably miss her, huh?" He blinked at her again, and she interpreted that as a yes. Coraline opened the music box, and pulled out the key, before following Cat down the stairs into the drawing room. She knelt by the door, her heart in her mouth. Cat sat down beside her, and together, they just stared at the little door.

There were still tiny scratches from when she'd clawed her way out last time, and it sent a little shudder through her body.

"It's okay Coraline…it'll be okay" She told herself, putting the key in the lock. They stayed still for a moment.

"I gotta say sorry…right Cat?" She looked down at him, but he was just staring at the door intently. "Sorry for being a brat… and thankyou, I guess. For teaching me a lesson"

Cat shuffled a little closer to the door, and Coraline turned the key in the lock. It almost seemed to echo.

She shuffled a little on her knees, and the little door swung open with a creak.

There was the tunnel, dusty and dirty, and full of junk like it had been the last time she'd been through there. A cold breeze came through, sending a little shiver down her spine. It smelled old.

Coraline was finding it very hard to be brave, especially when she noticed the back of the door. It looked like someone had attacked it with a knife, and left deep, rough gouges in the wood.

Cat darted in front of her, and made his way through the tunnel. Then at the end, he vanished.

Coraline leaned forward a little, hearing a gentle rustling sound, along with soft murmurs. How was she supposed to show her face to her Other Mother, after what she'd done?

Her heart jumped up into her mouth as she heard a soft voice.

"…Coraline? Is that you?"

xXx

**A/N;**

**Firstly, with regards as to **_**who**_** is actually the bad guy in this fanfic, it's meant to be ambiguous, so don't go worrying over it. It's totally up to you guys. But if you have any questions that we failed to answer, don't hesitate to shoot us a message. We'll always answer it. Now…**

**In no particular order…**

**Fluffycat301, Glassgift, Wowo, Uknowit, WybourneObsessed, SonicCoralineDragonLuverz, Coraline5555, , The Random Person, WybiE'z KidNapPer, Sami, PandasWithBazookas, Saharasiam, Deedeedragonwolf, CC333, Zack, Angry Email, Calyn, Button Eyed Doll, huhsmile, Andy 46587, Autumn's Melody, MysteriousWriting, Turbomechasonic, Ilovefanfictionsomuch, Marquis Carabas, talking black kitty of night, JuJu, aquamutt, Princess Annika Chan, Mi-chan1991 and that one person who didn't actually leave a name. **

**Thankyou all so VERY much for reviewing. You guys inspired us.**

**Now…the AWARDS. That's right, the awards.**

**First awards go to…huhsmile, CC333 and Andy 46587.**  
**You guys get the OHMAIGAWD award, for giving us our very own fanart. Like, OHMAIGAWD, thankyou.**

**Second award goes to the Marquis Carabas, for giving us constructive criticism. Thankyou for helping us improve our writing, plus, your review had 'ye Gods' in it. We loved it, and your awesome name. Knut got the reference right away.**

**Third award goes to WybiE'zKiDnapPer for reviewing the most… you've been with us from day 1, so thankyou.**

**The 'OHSHIZ Award' goes to Autumn's Melody, who posted the review that made us laugh the most. Thanking you kindly for that. Also? You did say 'Gracias', and…although Knut doesn't think it's fantastic, CANDY insisted you get a special mention for threatening our lives… =P**

**The 'Whut? Award' goes to Andy46587, because your review made us think about our fanfic, and how it could be interpreted by different people. It was interesting to know that you managed to relate it back to the bible…**

**Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to give you our very last message before we leave you…  
The next KnutCANDY fanfic is already in it's planning stages, so keep an eye out for it. It's gonna be fantastic. **

**WE LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH.  
STAY SHINY.  
KnutCase & CANDYisEpic.**


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